


Hidden Heartbeat

by Howlingdawn



Series: Hidden Infinity [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Brotherly Love, Fix-It, Gen, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, RIGHT MARVEL, THERE WILL STILL BE A HAPPY ENDING, Thor (Marvel) Needs a Hug, circumstances have changed and i've had to remove the angst with a happy ending tag, just... in the sequel, luckily they are both FINE and can therefore give each other that hug, sorry about that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-04-29 10:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14470542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Howlingdawn/pseuds/Howlingdawn
Summary: INFINITY WAR SPOILERS BEYOND. EVEN IN THIS SUMMARY. DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE. Thor had to watch Loki die. Again. But Loki's always come back before, so this time isn't any different. Right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok. I actually rather like Loki's death scene, because he died his best self at the end of his arc. But this is my son we're talking about and I need him to live.
> 
> Fair warning, this does go through basically the entire scene, including t h a t part and T H A T part because I am a sucker for angst, but I promise, it gets better. I promise I fixed it.

"The Tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference?" Thanos asked.

"Oh, I do." Thor looked up at his brother, but Loki lifted his chin, avoiding eye contact. "Kill away."

Immediately, pain ripped through Thor's head. _It's for the best,_ he thought, his jaws gaping in a scream. _Thanos can't be allowed to get the Tesseract,_ he rationalized, seeing nothing but blinding purple. _Loki's just bluffing. It's what he does. Lies._

_Right?_

"All right, stop!" Loki cried, cutting through Thor's scream.

 _Oh, thank the gods,_ Thor thought, going limp. But when he forced his eye up, Loki was crying. Loki, his baby brother who had learned long, long ago that crying led to bullying, was crying in public.

It almost gave Thor the strength to fight back.

"Give me the Tesseract," Thanos commanded.

"We don't have the Tesseract," Thor said. "It was destroyed on Asgard!"

 _Right?_ he asked silently, staring at Loki, begging it to be true.

The look Loki gave him told Thor everything he needed to know. He watched in horror, his heart sinking lower with every passing heartbeat, as Loki lifted his hand, avoiding everyone's gaze. His heart hit rock bottom as the Tesseract appeared, glowing coldly in Loki's hand.

"You really are the worst brother," Thor muttered.

Finally, Loki looked at him, and Thor immediately regretted the comment. The Tesseract lit up his face, sharply pointing out the injuries he had already received, the rips in his always-impeccable clothing. Worse, it shone on his eyes, lighting up their terrified, guilty depths, covered by a layer of tears.

He advanced slowly, Tesseract extended towards Thanos, his gaze never wavering from Thor. "I promise you, brother," he said, a little shakily, but low and heated, "the sun will shine on us again."

Thor didn't let his own gaze waver, desperate to believe his brother's words.

"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian," Thanos scoffed.

Loki looked up at the Titan. A smirk began to lift his mouth, the familiar expression banishing his terror. "For one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another, we have a Hulk."

A green blur came sprinting from the shadows with a roar, flinging himself at Thanos. Thor gasped as Thanos released his head, and a second later, Loki was tackling him out of harm's way. For a moment, Thor let himself lie there, stunned and panting with every inch of him in pain, as Loki crouched over him, one hand clutching Thor's shirt as he watched Hulk and Thanos battle.

"Hulk's got this," Thor tried to say reassuringly.

Loki just swallowed, wincing as the battle raged.

As quickly as it began, it went south. Thanos landed a solid blow. Hulk cried out in pain. He kept fighting, but the element of surprise was lost. Thanos kept landing blows, blocking what Hulk threw at him, hitting back with more viciousness each time. And finally, Thanos picked Hulk up, held him over his head and flung him to the ground. Where Hulk stayed. Defeated.

"No," Loki whispered, pressing back against the wall, eyes wide and terrified.

"Stay," Thor ordered him. He forced himself to his feet, reaching for the nearest weapon-like thing – a pole.

"No," Loki hissed, grabbing for him. "No no no-"

Thor slipped from his grasp, running for Thanos. With everything he had, he swung the pole at Thanos. It slammed into his hip, bending in half from the force of the blow. And Thanos hardly reacted. Just turned to look at him in disdain.

_Ah. Crap._

Thanos did nothing, but one of his so-called children did. Thor was yanked backwards, forced to his knees. Chunks of metal twisted around him, holding him in place. He struggled, but the restraints refused to budge even a millimeter.

A wave of rainbow light sliced through the ship, scooping Hulk up and beaming him away. Thor smiled, a little breath of relief, that at least he was safe. Until Thanos turned to Heimdall, disappointment in his expression. "You shouldn't have done that."

In a single, almost tired movement, Thanos stabbed Heimdall in the heart.

"NO!" Thor screamed. Loki stayed huddled against the wall, frozen.

"You," Thor rasped, "will pay for that."

More metal snapped shut over his mouth, gagging him. Thanos ignored him, moving to Ebony Maw as the villain picked up the Tesseract and offered it to the Titan in a disturbing show of submission. Thor could only watch, trapped and helpless, as Thanos crushed the Tesseract in his bare fist, revealing the Infinity Stone within, and added it to his collection.

All he could do was try to silently console himself. _Our people did not die for nothing. Heimdall did not die for nothing. Bruce will warn Earth. They'll stop him. No matter what happens here._

Suddenly, Loki moved, stepping back into Thanos's view, all hint of terror banished by his usual cocky persona. Thor watched, biting back a protest, his heart pounding in his chest. _Don't do anything stupid, don't do anything stupid, don't-_

"If you're going to Earth, you'll need a guide."

 _-do that. Loki, you_ moron.

"And I do have experience."

"If you consider failure experience," Thanos chuckled.

"I consider _experience_ experience," Loki retorted sharply.

He controlled his voice, softening it to something more respectful, and began stepping slowly, deliberately up to Thanos. "I am Loki…" He paused, lowering his gaze, not quite looking at Thor. "…Odinson. God of Mischief. Rightful King of Jotunheim. Prince of Asgard."

A glimmer caught Thor's eye, drawing it to his hand. Where a dagger formed, hidden between Loki's arm and body. He fought not to react, not to call out or let his eye widen in panic. This was their final ploy, _Loki's_ final ploy, Loki's final attempt to be the hero Thor had been encouraging him to be. And if Thor gave him away-

No. Failure wasn't an option.

Loki knelt stiffly. "I hereby pledge to you my _undying_ fidelity."

Thanos watched, head tilted slightly as if wondering what to make of this. Loki stayed down for a moment, steely determination sharpening his gaze the longer he stayed still. Finally, he took a breath. And in a single fluid movement, lunged upwards, dagger flying straight for Thanos's exposed throat.

In a flash of blue light, Loki's attack was frozen in place, mere inches from its target. Loki's eyes widened, and Thor renewed his struggles. His people, Heimdall, they were one thing. Immense heartbreaks, but ultimately, Thor knew he could survive them. It would take centuries, maybe a few thousand years, but- he would survive. Eventually. But- but Loki- _no. No no no no no._

"Undying," Thanos mused, twisting Loki's arm away. To his credit, Loki faced him with unwavering determination, even with no cards left to play. "You should choose your words more carefully."

Thanos wrapped his fist around Loki's throat, lifting him into the air. Thor screamed, struggling, _fighting_ to get to his brother, his baby brother who was thrashing, kicking, clawing, as his face turned red, his eyes going bloodshot, his breaths coming in gasps, each more strained than the last.

But he still couldn't budge the restraints, and with his neck being crushed in a fist powerful enough to stop Hulk, Loki weakened quickly. His struggles eased, feet still reaching for purchase, fingers still scrabbling, but the tiny movements were utterly futile.

With his last strength, he locked gazes with Thanos.

With his last breath, he choked out, "You… will never be… a god."

Irritation flashed through Thanos's eyes, but he just smirked, tightening his grip. The sound of crackling bones pierced Thor's heart, and Loki went limp. Eyes still open. Still terrified. Forever terrified, even though he was brave to the end.

"No- NO!" Thor screamed.

But there was no one left to hear him. No one left to care.

Thor watched through blurred vision as Thanos turned to him. He opened his fist, too late, far too late. Loki dropped, crumpling to the ground with a dull _thud_ that shot through Thor's soul. He hardly heard Thanos say "No more resurrections," hardly saw the villains leave.

He only noticed the metal springing open, clattering to the ground. He dragged himself forward, sobs wracking his body as the ship shuddered around him, ready to explode. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was Loki, all that mattered was being at his side. All that mattered was holding him.

All that mattered was holding his baby brother close, the one person in the universe he was supposed to protect above all others, shielding him like Loki had shielded him. He would not die alone. Not here. Not again.

_Wait- was that-_

_Did he just breathe?_

With a violent _bang,_ the ship exploded around them.

\-----

He dreamed of life, of golden fields and musical laughter and warm hugs. He dreamed of battle, of arcing lightning and boastful jokes and seamless teamwork. He dreamed of death, of midnight funerals and salty tears and gaping loneliness.

_Wake._

The word wove through his mind, slipping through the hazy dreams on a trail of white light. His laughter faded, his fighting paused, his tears slowed as he looked up, watching it. It beckoned to him, and his feet followed without conscious thought, carrying him through the swaying grass and bloodied corpses and mourners' rivers. He followed the beacon of hope into the summer afternoon, into the red sunset, into the moonless night.

Thor bolted awake with a gasp, lurching off the table. He grabbed the wall for support, chest heaving, head pounding. His other hand reached out blindly, instinctively, as if it was supposed to be holding something. His heart clenched when it closed on empty air.

"Woah! Woah, hey, calm down," someone said.

Thor spun to the voice, fists rising into fighting readiness. He was confronted with perhaps the oddest group he had ever seen, which was saying something. "Who the hell are you guys?"

The human-looking one lifted his chin. "I'm Star-Lord, and that's Gamora, Drax, Rock-"

Memories crashed over Thor, memories of death and fire, roars and screams, crackling bones and empty thuds. In two strides, he covered the distance between them, grabbing Star-Lord by the throat and slamming him up against the wall.

"Where's my brother?" he demanded. "What did you do with him?"

Drax and Gamora ran over, shoving Thor away from Star-Lord. Drax stayed back, clutching his daggers and ready to fight. Gamora just pressed her hands against Thor's chest, holding him off. "Your brother, what does he look like?"

Thor glared at Drax, still ready to fight, but he answered Gamora. "Greasy black hair, kind of weaselly, has a fondness for black and very dark green leather."

Gamora softened, her shoulders slumping, puffing out a breath. "He's injured, but he's alive. Follow me."

The fight drained from him in an instant as he obeyed, crowding behind her in an effort to make her move faster. She led him to a room with an open door. Inside was a neat little room, the closet open to reveal an array of clothes similar to what Gamora currently wore. To the left of the door was a bed, and on that bed-

"Loki!" Thor cried, dropping to his knees beside him. He was unconscious and paler than usual, but Thor rested a hand on his chest, tension fleeing his body as he felt a steady heartbeat beneath his palm. With his other hand, he investigated the brace around Loki's neck.

"We found the two of you floating in space – it took Drax and Gamora both to pry you off of him so we could try fixing him up. Whatever happened to you guys, he's damn lucky he's not dead," Star-Lord said, coming up behind Gamora. "It ain't a pretty sight underneath that brace. We don't even know if he's paralyzed or not."

_Paralyzed._

"What did happen?" Gamora asked.

Thor left his hand on Loki's chest, clinging to that heartbeat even after he looked away. Paralyzed or not, he was breathing, and that much he could work with. "Thanos," he murmured bitterly. "Valkyrie managed to take some of our people and flee, but Thanos slaughtered the rest. And obtained the Space Stone."

Gamora's eyes widened. "No," she breathed.

Thor looked sharply up at her. "What do you know of his plans?"

She dropped her gaze. "I was his daughter," she admitted quietly.

Instinctive rage tightened his fist around Loki's shirt. Before he could act, a feeble moan sliced through the cloud of emotion. Thor spun back to Loki, trying to lean over him without invading his space. "Loki?"

"Thor?" he mumbled hoarsely. He blinked sluggishly, squinting at the dirty grey ceiling. "Thor…" He bolted upright, eyes snapping wide open. "Tho- Ow!"

"Easy, easy," Thor cautioned, sitting on the bed to brace him as he cradled his neck. _Not paralyzed. Thank the gods._ "You survived, we're fine, I promise, but he still crushed your neck pretty thoroughly." He paused, waiting for Loki to catch his breath and calm down before asking, "Don't take this the wrong way, but- how _did_ you survive?"

"Spell to hide heartbeat," Loki answered, his voice hardly a whisper. "Had to be last second to trick him."

"You could've _told_ me your plan," Thor rebuked him, noticing that his eyes were no longer bloodshot. "I- I thought-"

" _Said_ undying," Loki protested, leaning back against him. His eyes were drooping shut, his hands trembling as the adrenaline surge from his waking wore off. "Tried."

Thor tucked him into a hug, holding him tight. "You did. You did your best."

Loki made a noncommittal noise.

"We can argue about that later," Thor sighed. "For now… I'm just glad you're alive, brother."

"You too," Loki whispered, lifting one arm. He wrapped it around Thor's shoulders, clinging to him. Thor closed his eyes, and for a few minutes, he ignored everything weighing on him in favor of just reveling in the safety of his brother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the second part of this is like almost pure humor and almost pure dialogue, which I normally avoid, but I don't think anybody'll mind that, right? We could all use some humor after Infinity War. And the hurt/comfort shall return full-force next chapter.

Loki rested in Thor's arms, almost able to ignore the pulsing agony in his neck. This was safe. No one was going to touch him, not here. Especially not tonight.

"Hey, I brought some food."

Loki splayed one arm across Thor's chest and bolted upright. He flung his other hand up instinctively, not that he could use his magic at the moment. But Gamora would _not_ touch his brother.

Gamora just held up the bowls of soup she carried, shifting her hip to show the empty holster. "I'm not who I once was, Loki."

Thor gently pushed his hand down, glancing between the two. "You two know each other?"

Loki huffed, and Gamora answered, "You could say that. It… wasn't a friendly acquaintance."

"Wasn't friendly?" Loki repeated in disbelief. "You-"

His voice caught in his abused throat, coming out only as a series of hoarse coughs. Thor steadied him as Loki's protective gesture turned into a grip of pain. "Breathe, Loki," Thor urged. "Just breathe."

Loki loosened his grip as he caught his breath, giving Thor's chest a pat to signal he was ok. Thor hesitated, then nodded, holding his hand out for the soup. "Thank you, Gamora," he said, setting one on Loki's lap. "But if you wouldn't mind…?"

"I'm leaving," she said. "And for whatever it's worth, coming from me… I'm glad you survived."

Loki watched her disappear through narrowed eyes. "She saved our lives, Loki," Thor pointed out.

"She _tortured_ me."

Thor sighed. "I figured as much. But that was six years ago, brother."

"Do you even _know-_ "

"No, and I probably don't want to," Thor interrupted. He squeezed Loki's shoulder. "I'm not trying to belittle what happened. But six years changes a person – look what's happened to you in that time."

Loki crossed his arms defiantly.

Thor cupped his face. "Loki, I'm not asking you to forgive her. That is your decision to make, and yours alone. But Thanos-" His hand slipped down to rest over the brace. "You know what he's capable of. We _need_ allies. All I ask is that you tolerate her until we've eliminated him. Please?"

Loki moved his hand off, looking away. "…Fine."

"Thank you," Thor said. "Now eat."

Loki dropped his eyes to the soup. "…Not hungry."

"Nonsense." Thor took his hands, wrapping one around the bowl and one around the spoon. "Eat."

Loki tried to put the bowl down, but Thor pinned his hands in place. "Not hungry."

"How much magic are you using?"

Loki started, leaning back. "I'm not-"

" _Don't_ ," Thor snapped, his voice wobbling, his grip tightening on Loki's hands. "Don't lie to me, Loki. Not today. You're alive, thank the _gods,_ and I know that, but- _but I still watched you die._ He _crushed_ your neck, Loki, I _heard_ your spine cracking, and heartbeat-hiding spell or not, _you should be dead._ So I _need_ to know – how vulnerable are you right now, really?"

Loki bit his lip, avoiding looking at the tears welling in his brother's eye. "All of it," he whispered. "I'm healing, but if I divert too much… I _will_ be dead. Or paralyzed."

Thor let out a breath, nodding. "Ok. Ok, so, you're benched."

"Thor-"

" _No_!" Thor said, lifting his hands back to Loki's face. "I will _not_ watch you die again, Loki. And if- if what I want to do goes wrong… I don't want you to watch _me_ die."

Loki caught Thor's arm, forcing all of the strength he could into his voice. "And I. Am not. Leaving. You. Not again."

Thor watched him, and Loki stared straight back, unwavering. And, finally, Thor dropped his hands. "I hate how stubborn you are."

"And I hate how heroic you are."

Thor huffed a laugh. "Eat. Then we'll go be stubbornly heroic together."

"I'm not h-"

"If you finish that sentence after you just went toe-to-toe with Thanos with a knife to protect me, I will flick your neck."

Loki made a show of edging away, but as he looked down at his soup, he was smiling.

\-----

Loki leaned against the wall behind Thor, facing the Guardians, ignoring the way his legs trembled. The soup had helped, even through the pain of swallowing, but it was a rare injury that was so severe even his unconscious mind directed his magic to heal it. He could feel it pooling in his neck, slowly shifting away from his recovering windpipe, sending signals and forcing movements where his damaged spinal cord and muscles failed.

"Should you really be standing up?" Quill asked.

Loki jolted out of his head, noticing the group of concerned faces looking at him. He straightened up, holding the wall tight enough to bend the metal. "I'm fine," he said.

"I can clearly see you shaking," Drax pointed out.

"Don't hurt my ship!" Quill warned.

"Loki," Thor said, prying his hand from the wall, "as your king and your older brother, I'm ordering you to sit."

"No," Loki resisted. His gaze darted over Thor's shoulder, landing on Gamora before he controlled himself.

But Thor seemed to have gotten twice as perceptive about emotions now that he couldn't perceive depth. "Brother, if she was going to hurt you, it would've been while we were unconscious. Ok? And if she so much as thinks about it now, I'll electrocute her."

"How would you-" Mantis started.

Thor held his hand up behind him, letting his lightning swirl around in his palm, twining up his arm. "God of Thunder."

"Woah," Mantis breathed.

"Wait," Rocket said, "if you're the God of Thunder, shouldn't you control, I dunno, thunder?"

"Thank you!" Loki exclaimed.

"Seriously?" Thor sighed.

"I've been telling you that for over a thousand years," Loki pointed out.

"Oh, just sit down," Thor grumbled, pushing him into a seat. Loki struggled purely to save face. Sitting did feel good.

"And now that that's dealt with, we need to go to Nidavellir," Thor announced, turning back to the Guardians.

"Woah, hold up there," Quill protested. Loki arched an eyebrow at his suddenly much deeper voice.

"Quill, what are you doing with your voice?" Rocket asked.

"Uh, nothing," Quill said, still faking the deepness.

"You did it again!" Mantis said.

Quill pursed his lips at his teammates, but didn't drop the act. "Before we go off to- wherever, we should figure out where Thanos is headed."

"Easy. He's headed to Knowhere," Thor answered.

"Surely he's going somewhere?" Mantis asked.

"No, Knowhere is a real place," Quill told her, surprise knocking off the act. "Why would he go there?"

"Thanos decimated Xandar last week and our people today, giving him the Power and Space Stones," Loki answered.

Thor nodded. "There are two more Stones on Earth, the Mind and Time Stones, so he ordered some of his children there."

"And no one knows where the Soul Stone is, so he can't go after that. Leaving the Reality Stone."

"Which has been on Knowhere, safely stored with a man called the Collector for years," Thor finished.

"That's not _safe,_ only an idiot would trust that man with a Stone," Quill said.

"We were going to trust him with one," Drax said.

"Shhhh," Quill hissed, his voice suddenly deeper again. "No we weren't."

" _Or_ a genius, because no one would expect him to have one," Thor argued.

Loki closed his eyes with a sigh.

"Well obviously Thanos expected it," Quill countered. "So, not really genius."

"What _matters_ ," Gamora interrupted, putting a hand on Quill's shoulder, "is that we have to stop Thanos from getting it."

"Right," Thor agreed. "Which is why we have to go Nidavellir."

"What does that accomplish? Running away?"

"Nidavellir's a place of legend," Rocket said, reserved awe sparkling in his eyes. "There's no way it's real."

"It's very real, rabbit, and it's where I can have a Thanos-killing weapon forged," Thor answered. "Going after him without it would be suicide."

" _Rabbit_?" Rocket echoed indignantly.

Loki just waved a dismissive hand to say _Don't bother._

"A Thanos-killing- shouldn't we _all_ have one of those?" Quill demanded.

"Sure," Loki said. "If you'd like your body to shrivel up while your mind collapses into madness."

"Is it weird that I wanna go even more now?"

"Yeah, a little bit," Thor answered. "But you might as well look forward to the trip, because we're going there."

"No, we are not-" Quill began.

"Look, we have a pod, and a large assortment of morons," Rocket cut in. "So why don't me and Groot take these two to weaponry heaven, while the four of you morons go try to fight Thanos?"

"Fine," Gamora said.

"Fine?" Quill repeated. "I thought I was the captain!"

"I thought the rabbit was captain?"

Loki groaned. _This is my brother. This is my best chance at survival._

Rocket straightened, smirking. "Hear that, Quill? _I'm_ the captain."

Quill pinched the bridge of his nose. "All right, go. You'll be complaining for the rest of our lives if I didn't let you go anyway."

"Works for me! Come on, Groot."

"I am Groot," the tree muttered, entirely focused on his game.

Loki suddenly realized that was his cue to stand. _But… this seat was starting to get quite comfortable…_

Thor's hand rested on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Gamora holding her hand out to him. "I know what I did to you was unspeakable, and I won't make excuses. But we do share the camaraderie of wanting Thanos gone, so if our fight to make it so ends badly for either of us… We shouldn't part on unfulfilled terms."

Loki hesitated, glancing up at Thor, but he only shook his head and said, "It's your choice, brother."

Loki looked back at Gamora, at the hope flickering in her eyes and the small smile on her face. Those had never been there six years ago. She had always been cold, emotionless.

_But six years changes a person – look what's happened to you in that time._

_Six years ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to kill her._

Slowly, he reached out and clasped her hand. And it wasn't the touch he remembered, the clinical need to accomplish her task and leave. She was supportive as she pulled him up, lingering to make sure he wouldn't fall.

"He made us both do unspeakable things," Loki admitted quietly.

Gamora smiled. "Thank you, Loki."

"Come on," Thor said, wrapping his arm around Loki's shoulders. "We have to go. I don't suppose you guys could spare some blankets and pillows?"

"What do we need pillows for?"

"Because you, brother, are napping on this trip."

"I am _not_ -"

"Yes, you are."

"I am _not_."

Loki passed out the moment his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to give Gamora some love seeing as. You know. Thanos threw her off a cliff. I hope she'll come back, but... idk. Her, Loki, Heimdall, and Vision - I just don't know. I have hope for Gamora and Loki, if not Heimdall and Vision, but... Ugh I need Avengers 4.  
> (Well that was a good way to ruin the feeling from the end of this chapter, whoops, my bad)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I thought starting this chapter: I am gonna up the hurt/comfort  
> What I got writing this chapter: Dang I'm proud of this humor

Thor sat in the back of the pod, leaning against the back of Groot's chair. Loki was curled up beside him, still sound asleep four hours later. The rasp had vanished from his breathing, which was now deep and even. Thor didn't want to disturb him by checking under the brace, but the quiet reassured him that Loki was indeed healing.

The pod shuddered, nearly tipping Loki over. Thor's hand shot out, steadying him. "Shush," he soothed as Loki stirred with a moan. "Stay asleep, brother."

"Sorry," Rocket said. "This thing's got a few bugs."

"You don't say?" Thor grumbled. Loki sniffled, a stray lock of hair tickling his nose. Thor brushed it aside. _I could cut it,_ he realized. _Just chop it off before he can slip in any more hair jokes._

"I don't suppose you have any scissors?" he wondered.

"Uh, yeah, try over there-"

"I am Groot," the tree cut in.

"Um, we were having a conversation, don't interrupt," Rocket scolded.

"I am Groot!"

"I don't care! Go in the cup, ain't nothing for us to see. It's a twig, we've all seen a twig."

"I am Groot."

"Just dump the contents outside and reuse it," Thor said.

"You speak Groot?" Rocket exclaimed.

"Of course, it was an elective on Asgard," Thor answered. "And Loki dated one once, during one of his more rebellious phases. Didn't last long."

Rocket swiveled around to stare at the two Asgardians in disgust. "I- I didn't need to know that."

"It's not like it went anywhere, it was just a couple dates and some splinters on his-"

"Dude!"

"-his _hands,_ Rabbit, his _hands_. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"No, I like it there," Rocket said.

Thor looked back at Loki, his smile turning nostalgic. "Mother used to ground us for a month if we made a dirty joke. Then we grew up, and it turned out she had the dirtiest humor of us all."

"Parents," Rocket huffed.

"She was the best mother," Thor corrected without malice. "And the only one who ever really understood my brother."

He closed his eyes. "I asked her once, a few years ago, if she regretted teaching him her magic. And here she is, years after her death, saving his life. I can't believe I ever doubted her."

"It happens," Rocket said, slipping out of his seat and coming back to join them. "Can't tell ya how many times I've doubted Peter, or how many times he's doubted me, but we always pull through."

"Believe me, I know," Thor murmured. "You have no idea how much of a miracle it is that he's even here, willingly at my side."

"Well, if he knew Gamora from her Thanos days and he was there to help you fight the dude, I can guess," Rocket said. "So don't screw it up."

Thor laughed. "Very helpful, Rabbit."

Rocket rolled his eyes, then rummaged in his pocket. "Listen, the two of you might only have each other to lose at this point, but I got a lot to lose, so here, you'll probably fight better with… this."

Thor took a mechanical eye from him, staring at it for a moment. "You just have an eye lying around?"

Rocket shrugged. "I won a bet on Contraxia."

"And the person gave you their eye?"

"No, I got 100 units. I snuck back in later to steal the eye."

Thor furrowed his brows. "You're… a very strange rabbit."

"Yes, yes I am," Rocket said proudly.

Thor blinked once more, then shook himself and took off his eyepatch to slip the eye in. "Oh, I-I would've washed that first," Rocket muttered. "The only way I could get it out of Contraxia was by sticking it up my-"

"No," Loki mumbled, the tiny word drenched in fear.

Thor leaned forward, slapping the side of his face to get the eye to focus through the glitching rainbow of colors. "Loki?"

"Don't," Loki pleaded, twisting onto his back. "Don't, please, _please_ don't-"

"Is he ok?" Rocket asked.

"Does he _look_ ok?" Thor shot back, taking off his blanket before he could get stuck in it. "He's had nightmares his entire life; I can only imagine they've gotten worse these last few years." He paused. "Huh, those nightmares were probably about Jotunheim."

"Yoda-what?"

"No," Thor said, drawing out the syllables, "it's _Jot-un-h_ -"

"No!" Loki screamed, shoving his hand into the air. Magic flickered to life, building in his palm.

"Uh, isn't he not supposed to-"

"No, he's not."

_Shaking him awake won't work, not if he's dreaming about what I think he's dreaming about, and it'll hurt his neck. So what…_

Thor glanced at Loki's extended hand, flashing back to the nights he had woken Loki up all those centuries ago. Sure, his cries back then had been for companionship instead of cries of pain, and his shivers from cold instead of fear, but the principal was the same, right? He just wanted gentle voice and a hand to hold.

_Here's hoping._

Thor took Loki's hand, ignoring the sting of his magic. He pressed their palms together, interlocking their fingers. "Loki," he said softly. "Loki, little brother, you need to wake up. Please."

Loki bolted awake with a gasp, lifting himself onto his free elbow. "Thanos," he rasped, gaze darting around wildly. "Thanos, he- he-"

"Thanos isn't here," Thor promised, slipping a hand under Loki's head. "He can't hurt you."

Chest still heaving, Loki glanced at their hands, his eyebrows furrowing. His magic faded. Thor started pulling back, wondering if he'd appreciate the contact now that he was awake. Hugs were one thing, but hand-holding was-

Loki surged forward, throwing his arms around Thor and clinging to him. "You remembered."

Thor breathed a sigh of relief, smiling. "Of course I did. Whose idea do you think it was to make a Hulk lullaby?"

"Glad I could help," Loki joked half-heartedly, his breaths coming more easily. He let go of Thor with one hand to hold his neck.

Thor chuckled, patting the back of Loki's head. "I see you're calming down."

"Well, _that_ was disgustingly sweet."

Loki practically jumped out of his skin, whipping around and starting to raise his hand before seeing Rocket. "Don't scare me like that, rodent!"

"You know, you two ain't acting very godly," Rocket said, crossing his arms.

"We're brothers first," Thor said.

"Today, anyway."

Thor rolled his eyes at Loki. "Besides, once I get my hands on Thanos, you won't doubt who I am."

"Who's that, the God of Lightning?"

Loki burst out laughing. Thor pursed his lips and gave him a… _nudge,_ sending him falling backwards with a yelp. "There was dirt on your shoulder," Thor explained lamely.

Loki narrowed his eyes. "You just wait until I get my magic back."

"How's that going, by the way?" Rocket asked.

Thor offered his hand to Loki. Loki gave it a skeptical glance and pushed himself upright, edging back to lean against the wall. "I'm mostly healed, and I have magic to spare now."

"Mostly?" Thor pushed.

Loki dropped his gaze, picking at his hands. "It's just my spine and spinal cord," he mumbled.

"Just your- _Loki_ -"

"Now hold on, don't be gettin' all king big brother on him yet," Rocket interrupted. "You're still healing, though, right?"

"Yes," Loki answered firmly, shooting the rabbit a grateful glance. "The vertebrae were just fractured, not shattered, and the spinal cord wasn't completely severed, but healing them is still a delicate process. It takes time."

Thor scrubbed at his new eye. "Even when you're not trying to stress me out, you do."

"It's not like I meant to end up literally back in his grip, Thor," Loki retorted sharply.

"No, I know, I'm sorry," Thor said, recognizing the fear beneath the anger. _Don't pile your stress on him, that's part of how you two got here._ "I'm just…"

"You know, 'I'm here' meant more than just I'm physically next to you," Loki pointed out. "You talked to me before."

"Because you came and wouldn't leave until I ranted," Thor said, dropping his hands. "I'm getting used to- What?"

Loki had frozen, his gaze riveted to Thor's. He started to reach out, the gesture almost hopeful, before he stopped himself. "Your eye, it's-"

"Back? Oh yeah, the rabbit gave me-"

"It's Heimdall's color."

Thor stopped, touching the corner of the eye. "It- it is?"

"Who's Heimdall?" Rocket asked.

"He is-" Thor paused. Swallowed. Shifted to press against his brother. "He was our closest friend. Until Thanos stabbed him in the heart."

Loki pressed back, a tear rolling down his cheek. "He did more to raise me than our actual father ever did."

"Makes sense," Rocket murmured. "That eye changes to match whoever you're thinking of when you put it in. Figured someone like that was why yours didn't turn blue."

"You could've _told_ me that," Thor exclaimed.

"Could've. Didn't."

"Why?" Loki asked.

Rocket shrugged, turning away. "Slipped my mind, I guess."

"No, it didn't."

Rocket settled back into the captain's chair. "Enjoy your keepsake, you so-called gods."

Loki adjusted his position, nestling his chin on Thor's shoulder and watching out the windows. "It didn't slip his mind."

"I know," Thor said. "You're right."

"He welcomed me back," Loki whispered. "Heimdall, on the Bridge. After everything I did, he just welcomed me home."

Thor wrapped his arm around his little brother. "He cried for you, in that year we thought you were dead the first time. He loved you like you were his own son."

"Maybe. But he loved you more."

"Stop selling yourself short!" Thor scolded. "He never hid me when my jokes went awry. He always checked on you first when we returned from battle. And he never let me skip class to learn from him instead."

"Ok, that last one is because I was bullied and you weren't."

"The _point,_ " Thor pressed on, "is that he loved you just as much as me, if not more. All right?"

Loki smiled softly.

He blinked, and his happiness disappeared. "You shouldn't have made that promise."

"What promise?"

"When you said Thanos can't hurt me. He can."

"Maybe," Thor admitted quietly. "But he'll have to go through me."

"Uh… he did."

"Well, he'll have to go through me twice."

Loki chuckled, but the humor faded quickly, leaving him staring blankly out the window again. Thor cast about for a way to at least distract him from the memories haunting his eyes, unable to bear the old terror he could see in them.

"I was jealous of the two of you, you know," he eventually said. "You and Heimdall."

If he'd been drinking, Loki would've choked on it, his eyes flying open. "What? _You_ were jealous of _me_?"

"You'd be jealous too if you didn't have an adult to hide you when you stole Volstagg's lunch! Plus, the lightning is extremely badass, but telekinesis _seriously_ would've come in handy when the humans were arguing over who should get the remote someone left on the table."

A smirk crossed Loki's face. "I know another reason you're jealous."

"What?" Thor asked warily.

Loki straightened up and dramatically flipped his hair. " _My_ hair survived Sakaar."

"…Rabbit, where are those scissors?"

Loki paled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The friendship I expected: Canon-compliant Thor and Rocket  
> The friendship I'm getting: Rocket sasses Thor to make Loki laugh


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, so I currently have both this and chapter 5 written, cause I wanted to get through to a certain part before posting anything, and that hasn't even happened and I've hit 4k words, which is twice my normal chapter length. (Nidavellir was supposed to be one chapter but it's turning itself into 3.) So I considered giving you guys one long chapter, but believe me, you'll appreciate me not dumping the next chapter on you just yet. I've been fighting myself to keep this fairly fluffy, but as IW's actual plot is starting to feature more and more, well, there's a lot of fighting for a certain trickster who's not quite up to it yet. Plus, I'm an angst queen, it's in my blood. So, on that ominous note - enjoy this chapter for a couple days before I post chapter 5!

Loki stepped out of the pod, unease fluttering within him. On his last visit, Nidavellir had been bursting with life, the star flaring hot and bright, rings spinning lazily, hammers banging against sizzling metal, some dwarves guffawing and yelling across the forge while others worked in focused silence. He had left utterly miserable, sweating and half-blind and half-deaf.

But now?

Darkness blanketed the forge, the only light coming from the pod and distant stars. Silence pressed against his ears, deafening in the wrongness of it. The chill settled around them, comfortable for Loki, and cold enough to make Thor rub at his bare arms.

"Where are the dwarves?" Loki breathed.

Thor ventured a few steps from the pod as Rocket and Groot followed the Asgardians out. "I don't know," he answered, equally quiet. "You're the one who's been ruling Asgard these last few years – were there any distress calls?"

"Not from Nidavellir," Loki answered as the group started moving deeper into the forge. "This happened either under Father's rule or Hela's."

"How'd you end up ruling if he's the old one?" Rocket asked.

"Old _er_ ," Thor muttered. "I am not old."

"I faked my death, stripped our father of his memories, banished him to Earth, and spent the next four years pretending to be him."

"I am Groot," the tree observed.

"No, I didn't hurt anyone! They were still my family, even if I did hate their guts."

"You hurt me," Thor said. "I had to watch you die. Again."

"I am Groot?"

"I've only faked my death _three_ times!" Loki protested. "And the first was actually supposed to be real – no," he added as Groot and Rocket both opened their mouths, "we are not talking about it. And the third was to save the two of us from Thanos, and I _tried_ to warn Thor, so, not my fault."

"Eh, that still leaves the middle one," Rocket pointed out.

"Thank you!" Thor exclaimed.

"I had been sentenced to solitary confinement for four thousand years, _anyone_ would do _anything_ to get out of that. Plus, I thought you were on my side!" Loki pouted. He ran a hand through his hair, safe only because Rocket had shoved the scissors into space.

"I'm on my side, Lackey. The scissors were so neither of you would screw up and stab me."

Loki held up a finger. "Only _one_ person is allowed to call me that, and you are not her."

"I am Groot?"

"She's-" Loki stopped, glancing over at there. "Did they…?"

"I don't know," Thor whispered. "I wish I did."

Something clanged within the forge, making all four of them whirl around. Groot lowered his game, Rocket aimed his gun, and lightning sparked around Thor's fists. Loki raised his hands, then hesitated, feeling the swirl of magic around his spine.

"Are you sure you don't have a weapon for me?" he whispered as they cautiously started walking again, Thor striding into the lead.

"I told you, I've got a spare blaster."

"I don't use guns."

"Can you really afford to be picky right now, Lackey?"

Loki pursed his lips, then reached up to take the brace off. He winced at the sound of the Velcro peeling off, the noise crackling through the air like a rumbling thunderclap. The air nipped at his skin, a sudden enough contrast to the airless heat within the brace that Loki shivered.

"What are you doing?" Thor hissed, turning to stare at Loki.

"If we have to fight, I'm _not_ doing it in this thing," Loki answered, setting it down on the nearest pile of metal.

"Loki-"

Behind Thor, the shadows moved, coalescing onto a solid, massive shape. "Thor!" Loki warned, flinging his hands up to fight.

Thor started to turn, but the dwarf moved faster. With a roar, he backhanded Thor, sending him crashing into a pile of metal crates. Thor's lightning flashed erratically as he flew, momentarily glinting off metal hands and illuminating the face beneath the shaggy mane of hair. Recognition flooded over Loki.

"Hey!" Rocket snarled, bringing his gun up.

"No!" Loki yelled. He shoved his magic out, forming a thin wall of emerald light between Rocket and Eitri just as Rocket pulled the trigger and Eitri's fist slammed down. A strained whimper escaped him as the bullets and fist hit his shield, the impacts reverberating up his arms and into his spine. He sank onto one knee as the shield wavered and sparked, gritting his teeth and pushing more magic into it even as pain stabbed throughout his neck.

"Rocket," he rasped, "stop shooting."

"He's attacking us!" Rocket protested even as he complied. He glanced over his shoulder, irritation vanishing instantly. "Whoa, dude, you don't look so good-"

"Eitri," Loki interrupted, "it's Thor and Loki."

Eitri stopped pounding the shield, giving Loki a moment to suck in a gasp of air. He forced his head to tilt back to look the dwarf in the eye. "We're not here to hurt you."

"Loki," Eitri snarled, bringing his arm back. "He mentioned you. You work for him!"

Loki's eyes widened, seeing the blow coming. One at Eitri's full strength would rip through the shield he was managing, smashing right down on him in a hit there would be no recovering from. But he couldn't get up and run, not fast enough, not right now.

"No, I don't, he nearly killed me-" he tried desperately.

"Lies!" Eitri roared, driving his fist down.

Lightning bolted between Eitri and the shield, stopping the dwarf in his tracks. "He's telling the truth, Eitri!" Thor shouted, moving between Loki and the dwarf. Loki dropped the shield and fell forward, panting. Rocket caught him.

"But- he-"

"Are you really going to trust the word of a murderer over the word of Asgard's king?" Thor challenged.

"Asgard," Eitri snapped, his anger renewed. "Asgard was supposed to protect us!"

"Asgard- Asgard is destroyed," Thor explained. "The Allfather is dead, our army is gone, our planet is gone, our numbers are decimated. I'm sorry we couldn't stop whatever happened here, but Asgard isn't defending much of anything anymore."

Eitri finally stilled, fists slowly unclenching. "Thanos."

Thor nodded, lowering his arms. "Partially. He attacked as we fled Ragnarok, and he- he killed many. Including Heimdall."

Eitri dropped to the ground with a _thud_ that reverberated through the floor. Loki groaned, sinking to the ground, rolling onto his back. Rocket steadied him, holding his head still as he laid there, panting.

"Sorry," Eitri mumbled.

Loki gave him a feeble thumbs-up. "I deserved that."

"Stop saying that," Thor scolded, kneeling beside him. He sucked in a sympathetic breath, lightly touching the bruises Loki was sure were now on full display. "Loki…"

"Don't," Loki pleaded, knocking his hand away with more force than he intended.

"Ok," Thor acquiesced, settling for a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder. "Ok, just… don't move."

"No, I was planning to run a marathon," Loki joked half-heartedly. Thor chuckled, the sound holding more relief than mirth, and gave him one last pat before rising to talk to Eitri. Loki watched as best he could with Rocket still holding his head very firmly still. Groot was off to the side, once again absorbed in his game as if nothing had happened.

"What happened here?" Thor asked.

"Thanos came," Eitri said, his tone equal parts bitterness and despair. "He wanted us to build him something capable of wielding the power of all six Infinity Stones. The others refused, but I- I caved. I built what he wanted. And he killed them all anyway. Three hundred dwarves worked this forge, and they're all dead. Because of me."

"No," Thor stated. "They're dead because of Thanos. And if you hadn't made the Gauntlet, you would be dead too."

"And if I had died refusing to make it, where would Asgard be?" Eitri shot back. "I assume he wouldn't dare attack gods without at least one Infinity Stone."

Loki winced, remembering the violet power making his brother scream, the sting of the Space Stone holding him down, the eerie chill of the Gauntlet closing around his neck. But he held on to those memories as he shook Rocket off, pushing himself upright.

"We all have our pressure points, Eitri," he said, standing to look the dwarf in the eye. "I traded the Tesseract for Thor's life." He looked away, struck by a memory, his mouth twitching into a wry half-smile. "I once told someone she was too sentimental for bargaining for one man when her world was at stake. And I just did that very thing, except it wasn't the world, it was half the universe."

"What's your point?" Eitri asked.

"My point is that I'm still fighting." Loki stepped closer, sharpening his voice. "Thanos tortured me for a year, and I still have nightmares about it. And then I watched him torture my brother, whom I _just_ reunited with, and slaughter half of my people, including the man who was like a father to me, right before he crushed my neck in the Gauntlet _you_ made for him.

"I could've fled with Valkyrie. I could've begged Heimdall to send me to Earth with Hulk. I could've stayed with the other Guardians, or stayed on the pod, or hid and let you fight it out with those three. _But I didn't._ I chose to fight every time, to fight for my brother and my people and the universe.

"Yes, I worked for Thanos. Yes, I took the Tesseract when Asgard was destroyed. And I could try to excuse those actions. I could try telling anyone who will listen that I was tortured into it, that I thought taking the Tesseract would protect us, but I'm not. Because guilt means _nothing_ right now, and words won't fix anything."

Loki stood at the dwarf's feet now, well aware that a single kick from him could kill him. "My brother needs a weapon that can end Thanos's evil once and for all. So you can sit here and mope for whatever remains of your pathetic life, or you can _do_ something to help us."

Eitri narrowed his eyes at Loki, but Loki didn't let his gaze waver. He glared at the dwarf, putting every shard of icy rage he could into his expression.

Finally, Eitri looked away, holding up his metal appendages. "I can't. Thanos took my hands. He said my life was mine, but my hands belonged to him, and him alone."

"Eitri-" Thor started.

"Screw Thanos!" Loki hissed, pacing around to look Eitri in the eye again. "He can only take something from you if you let him. Those hands work just fine, and all of the knowledge we need is in your head. So use your head and _help_. Otherwise he wins, and your friends really did die for absolutely nothing because of you."

Eitri glared back, clenching his hands into fists. Loki didn't let himself flinch, raising his chin, countering Eitri's fire with his ice. He ignored Groot slowly setting down his game, ignored Rocket reaching for his gun's trigger, ignored Thor slowly moving closer.

"Fight," Loki hissed. "Fight harder than the Thanos-following scum you were ready to smash mere minutes ago."

Eitri slowly raised his fist. And poked Loki in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. "You," he growled, "are damn lucky your brother is here."

Thor caught him, quickly shoving Loki behind him. "So you'll help?" he checked.

"I'll try," Eitri grunted, standing. Loki let out the breath he'd been holding, sitting heavily on the nearest box. "There's an axe – Stormbreaker – that should be able to kill him and, in theory, summon the Bifrost. It's a true king's weapon."

"But?" Rocket asked. "There's always a but."

Groot chuckled.

"Get your mind out of the gutter!" Rocket scolded.

"Yes… there's a but," Eitri confirmed, eyeing the raccoon and tree in confusion. "The forge is dead. Someone needs to get it going again."

"You just need the rings to spin, right?" Thor asked, peering out at them.

"Yes."

"I have an idea, then," Thor said, striding off in the direction of the pod. "Rabbit, with me. Tree, Loki, stay. Eitri, don't hurt my brother."

"Thor-" Loki started.

Thor paused to pin him down with a look. " _Stay_."

Crossing his arms reluctantly, Loki stayed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was doing a good job of keeping the POVs up for a whole chapter, alternating so they got equal time, but. Yeah. Say goodbye to that in this chapter.

"You still haven't told me your plan," Rocket called from within the pod.

Thor fastened the rope to one of the pod's landing struts, tying it with the strongest knots he knew. "Fighting with the Avengers was fun," he said, "but I never really got to use my full strength. And traveling by myself, I got to use my full strength, but, well, it was lonely. Not fun."

"Dude."

"But _this_ plan," Thor continued, beginning to grin, "I get friends _and_ to stretch my muscles."

"How are you going to-"

Thor gripped the rope tightly and _yanked,_ leaning into a spin. The pod didn't move for a moment, but Thor threw his weight into it and it yielded, starting forward. It moved easily after that as Thor spun it overhead like a lasso, grinning at the sound of Rocket's startled screaming.

"Fire up the engines!" he commanded.

Rocket obeyed, and the pod soared forward. Thor lurched after it, staggering as it dragged him forward. But he regained his footing, digging his heels into the floor. He cut a swath through it, broken chunks flying past him.

For a moment, he feared this wouldn't work.

Then his feet jammed against the edge of the ring, the impact reverberating up his entire body. The rope scraped at his hands until he tightened his grip, halting it. "More power, Rabbit!"

Rocket listened, jamming the pod forward. Thor gritted his teeth, locking his knees. _Work. You have to work._

All around them, metal started to creak. The pressure on Thor eased. And to his left, the star began to glow, its flame flickering back to life.

A wild laugh of relief escaped Thor. He pushed off, floating up to land on the pod's window. " _That's_ Nidavellir," he told Rocket, pointing at the star. The rabbit grinned, his eyes wide with awe.

But as Rocket flew them back to the others, the stream of superheated flame stuttered and died.

"Damn it," Eitri muttered.

"Damn it? What's damn it?" Rocket demanded. Thor dropped to the ground, putting himself between Loki and the star's heat.

"The mechanism must be broken," Eitri explained, shoulders slumping. "I can't forge Stormbreaker without it."

"It just needs to be held open, right?" Thor checked.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Thor, _no_ ," Loki snapped, grabbing his wrist and turning him around. "We're not _that_ strong."

"It's only for a few minutes, right?"

"Yes," Eitri confirmed. "But, Thor, you'll be bearing the entire force of a star. It will kill you."

"Only if I die."

Loki hid his face in his hands, a familiar gesture of irritation that Thor hadn't seen in far too long. Eitri opened and closed his mouth a couple times before ultimately stammering out, "Y-yes, that's… what killing you… means."

"Somebody needs to do it," Thor pointed out. "And you need to stay here to do the forging, Eitri, and other than you, I'm the strongest."

"I can do it," Loki offered. "I'm Asgardian too-"

"You're also Jotun," Thor said, gesturing at where Loki stood, hidden in the shadows, sweat still sparkling on his face. "You're in danger of overheating here, let alone inside the actual star. You'll get your chance, but for now, stay this one last time. Please."

Loki's jaw worked, searching for a counterargument, but for once, his silver tongue failed him. "Fine," he accepted grudgingly, giving Thor a quick hug. "But if you die in there, I'll stab you."

Thor chuckled, pulling away. "I expect nothing less, brother."

"Wait," Loki said, catching his wrist and turning his palm up, exposing the new rope burns alongside the scorch mark left by Loki's stray magic. "I can heal that before you go in there-"

"No," Thor said, extricating his hand. "Save your magic for yourself."

"But-"

"Loki, I'm not going to watch you risk paralysis over a couple scrapes."

"It doesn't take _that_ much magic to heal a couple scrapes."

"Loki."

Loki crossed his arms. "Fine. But you know what you said, how I stress you out even when I'm not trying to? The feeling is mutual, Thor."

Thor forced a laugh, clapping Loki on the shoulder. "And we wouldn't have it any other way, would we?"

Loki started to shake his head, then froze, grabbing his neck. "Just go be your stubborn heroic self."

"Always," Thor said, even as he hesitated, watching Loki fumble one-handed for a seat on the boxes. His little brother needed him, and what was he doing? Charging headfirst into mortal danger.

Loki caught the stare. "Go," he urged, his voice softer. "Worst-case scenario, I've got Rocket and Groot. And if you don't do this, half the universe dies. Even I don't want that on my conscience."

"You didn't want any of what you've done on your conscience," Thor corrected gently.

"I still did them," Loki murmured, lowering his gaze.

"What, do you think heroes don't screw up?" Thor said. "I wanted to wipe out the Jotuns once too. Gamora was Thanos's daughter. Natasha and Clint were master assassins. Wanda worked for Hydra and attacked us all."

"I was a thief, Peter was a Ravager, Mantis worked for Peter's homicidal father, and Drax was a mass murderer," Rocket chimed in. "This Groot ain't done much but use foul language on his parents, but the old Groot helped me steal and kidnap and kill. You ain't alone, Loki, whatever you did. Heroes, even those of us who still have a morally dubious side, we come in all shapes and sizes."

"This is all very touching, but nobody's going to be proving their hero status if I don't get Stormbreaker forged," Eitri cut in impatiently.

"Right," Thor said, jumping around. "Rabbit, bring me to the star!"

\-----

Loki paced back and forth, ignoring the heat rippling over him and the sweat trickling down his back. "This is going to work, right?"

"No one has ever been stupid enough to try," Eitri replied disparagingly.

Loki stopped to glare at the dwarf. "That is _so_ reassuring."

"I'm not here to babysit you."

"Ready whenever you are!" Thor called.

Loki turned to see his brother inside the star, silhouetted against its light. Eitri called back "Ready!" even as Loki's mind screamed _This is suicide!_ But he kept his mouth shut, twisting his hands together as he watched Thor start to move.

Flames came pouring from the star, a straight line aimed into the mold. And for a minute, Thor held his own, grunting from strain and some pain, but managing to gasp out, "Hey, this is- ow- kind of easy!"

Loki scrubbed his hands over his face. _Why? Why is_ this _my brother?_

A scream jolted him out of his thoughts. "Thor?"

"I'm- OW- I'm ok-"

More screaming called him out on the lie. Loki lifted his hand, but even at full strength, he wouldn't be able to do anything useful from this distance. "Do you have what you need, Eitri?" he demanded.

"Not yet!"

Loki gritted his teeth, sucking in a breath before making a supreme effort to sound calm. "You've almost done it, Thor. Just hold on."

Screams were his only answer.

"Eitri!" he snapped.

"All right, all right, he can let go!" Eitri said, rushing to pour the molten metal into the mold.

Loki turned back to Thor, but he was already falling, the stream of flame shoving him forward. Rocket moved in, ready to catch Thor, but the stream was dying slowly, too slowly, and Thor was tumbling faster and faster towards the forge. Loki flung his hands up at the last second, forming a shimmering green net to ease his brother's fall.

He dropped the spell the moment he could, but he still stumbled as he moved to Thor's side, half-falling to his knees. "Thor? Don't be dead," he begged, feeling for a pulse beneath the scorched skin.

His fingertips found it, beating weakly, more thready with every passing beat. "EITRI!" he screamed.

Eitri shoved the mold over, punching it open with his fist. "Where's the handle?" he muttered. "Tree, find the handle!"

Thor's heart beat… beat… be… at… against Loki's fingertips.

_They won't be fast enough._

Loki positioned his hands on Thor's chest, palms pressed down and fingers splayed. _Sorry, brother, but the universe needs a_ real _hero._

Taking a breath, he poured his healing magic into his brother. Thor gasped in a weak breath, but that wasn't enough. Loki closed his eyes and kept going, his own heart hammering as his magic traveled into Thor. He drained every reserve he had, but Thor still wasn't moving.

_Do it. Do it, Odinson._

A faint whimper escaped him as he finally started pushing his magic away from his spine. His limbs trembled, growing heavy. Loki forced one hand forward, wrapping sluggish fingers around Thor's collar in an effort to hold himself in place.

Thor still wasn't waking.

\-----

Green. Everything was green and cold. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear voices, a cry of pain. Something weighed down on him, growing heavier as time passed. Thor wanted to open his eyes, wanted to ask why everything was green, if that person was ok, if someone could get whatever it was off his chest.

He just didn't have the strength.

_Loki… I'm sorry…_

Suddenly, a new presence touched his mind. It was warm and fierce, its call insistent. Everything in him cried out to obey. He reached for it, his fingers twitching and stretching. _I'm here… I'm here…_

The weight vanished from his chest, taking the green and cold with it, a heartbeat before something flew into his open hand.

Thor's eyes flew open. Lightning channeled into the new object before exploding outward, blasting him to his feet. His outerwear changed, shifting into something sleeker, more formfitting, sleeves twining together over his arms. The familiar flapping of a billowing cape reached his ears, making him grin.

As the lightning faded, he turned around, ready to boast.

The grin vanished from his face.

Loki was sprawled on the ground, eyes wide open but the rest of him unmoving. Rocket and even Groot, whose left arm was regrowing, were bent over him, saying things Thor couldn't make out, the blood rushing in his ears.

"Loki," he rasped. "Loki!"

He dropped Stormbreaker and ran over, throwing himself down, and thank the gods, _thank the gods_ Loki's eyes moved to look at him, but they were scared, they were so so scared. "You- you look like a king," was all he said, though.

"What happened?" Thor asked, forcing his voice to stay gentle.

"You were dying, so this dimwit tried to heal you," Rocket explained. "And now he can't move."

"…You're welcome?" Loki offered, his voice tiny.

Thor swallowed down his instinctive rage, nodding instead. "Thank you."

Some of the terror left Loki's eyes at that. Thor reached for his hand, squeezing as hard as he dared. "Can you feel that?"

"Sort- sort of?" Loki answered with absolute zero certainty in his tone. His breaths were coming in quick, terrified gasps. "Th-thor-"

"Sit him up!" Eitri commanded.

Thor looked up, watching the dwarf come running back from somewhere, a dagger pinched between his thumb and forefinger. "Shouldn't we keep him still-?"

"Not if you want him to walk again," Eitri said, dropping into a crouch. "Up!"

Loki was practically a deadweight as Thor lifted him, one hand cradling his head and the other supporting his back. He was trying desperately to look back at Eitri without actually moving his head. "Thor, what is he doing? Thor!" he yelped as Eitri suddenly pressed the tip of the dagger to the back of his neck.

Thor lashed out, shoving Eitri's hand back. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" he growled, dropping his other hand to hide Loki's neck. Rocket stepped between Eitri and Loki, and Groot glared at the dwarf.

Eitri held up the dagger, showing off a black hilt engraved with emerald snakes twined together, their eyes glinting gold. "This dagger was forged specifically for Loki. If imbued with his magical blood and held in his hand, it will amplify his magic. And he _needs_ his magic."

Thor considered the dwarf, but there was only urgency in his expression. So he leaned back a little to look Loki in the eye. "It's your decision."

Loki looked up at him, still with those terrified eyes, and his voice was tiny but steady as he answered, "Do it."

Thor bit his lip, but he lifted Loki's hair out of the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do have chapter 6 written already, but... I think I'll leave you guys with that for a few days :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to make y'all wait until at least tomorrow, but I am very impatient to show off Loki's new weapon. So here you go, and happy Mother's Day to any mothers who might be reading this!

Loki could see his legs sprawled out in front of him, but no amount of silent begging was making them move. Rocket was on his right, brushing up against Loki's arm as he watched Eitri through narrowed eyes, gripping his gun tightly. Loki turned to the left, gleaning what comfort he could from pressing his face into Thor's neck.

"Are you ready?" Thor asked, gathering Loki's hair into his hand.

"No," he mumbled. "But… do it anyway."

He felt Thor nod, but before Eitri could do anything, Thor dropped his hand back to cover Loki's neck. "If I think even for a moment that you're going to hurt him, I _will_ kill you," he threatened, voice low and vibrating with emotion.

"I know," Eitri said.

Thor hesitated a moment longer, then nodded again, moving his hand back up. Loki looked up at the stars, bracing for the dagger. _It's necessary,_ he told himself, over and over again like a mantra, as if that would quell the fear surging within him. Groot patted his knee, and Loki forced himself to smile at the effort.

Eitri's touch was surprisingly gentle, but Loki still flinched.

_The icy metal fingers wrapped around his throat, chilling him to the bone in a heartbeat, the joints in the metal pinching his skin. Terror zipped through Loki as Thanos lifted him, Loki's own weight crushing his windpipe against the Gauntlet as he struggled, kicking and prying, desperate for freedom. Then Thanos squeezed, bending tendons and muscle and bone in his grip, and Loki wanted to scream._

_But nothing could escape._

"Loki! Loki, you're ok, it's ok."

Loki sucked in a breath, returning to the present. Thor was smoothing his hair back down over his neck. Eitri was crouching in front of Loki now, and Thor carefully turned to face him. He was still holding the dagger, now with a couple drops of red blood wrapped in shimmering green rolling along the blade. He unscrewed the very end of the hilt, pulling off a piece with a depression inside, like a mouse-sized bowl. Carefully, he tapped the dagger against it, scraping off every bit of blood he could. Then he put the piece back on, and magic rippled across the dagger, sealing it together and sharpening the blade.

Eitri picked up Loki's hand and wrapped his fingers around the hilt. Then he put his hand down, wedging it against his leg so the fingers stayed shut. "Lay him down," Eitri ordered, backing off and pulling Rocket and Groot with him, ignoring the raccoon's hisses.

"What? No-"

Loki looked down at the dagger, and noticed it was vibrating. Tiny lines of magic were reaching out of the snakes' eyes, weaving their way around the hilt and into Loki's hands. And Loki still couldn't feel his hand, but he _could_ feel the magic slipping into his skin, his muscles, his veins and nerves, growing in strength and speed as it climbed up his arm.

"Thor, put me down. _Now._ "

Thor had opened his mouth to protest, but at the urgent _Now,_ he quickly laid Loki down and backed off, rejoining his discarded weapon.

And for a long moment, Loki just laid there, agonizingly aware of the four pairs of eyes watching him intently at his most vulnerable, but unable to do anything except wait for the magic to do its work.

When the dagger's magic touched the pitiful remnants of Loki's magic still twined around his spine, it exploded.

He cried out, but it wasn't pain. It didn't feel good, but it somehow didn't hurt, either. It was just… a _feeling,_ hot and cold, pain and pleasure, mixing together in the back of his neck, making everything numb, yet also feeling like everything, as the magic seeped into muscle and nerve and bone, pulling the damaged bits together.

It took both an eternity and a heartbeat, and then it faded, leaving Loki dazed and panting.

"Loki?"

"I'm good," Loki whispered.

"Did it work?" Rocket asked.

"I'm… I'm getting there," Loki said, not daring to look at anybody's concerned or hopeful faces. He thought he could feel the familiar leather of his clothes, the rough ground beneath him, the sweat still dripping down his front, but… He didn't want to trust it.

He didn't want to hope.

Rocket leaned into his line of sight. "Look, I get it, you're scared."

"I am _not_ -"

"Everyone gets scared, Lackey," Rocket interrupted. "I spent two months keeping the others at tail's length cause I was terrified to let 'em love me. Almost _did_ lose them cause I was such a douchebag. And now they're the best things that ever happened to me."

"Is there a point to this?" Loki muttered.

"Yeah," Rocket answered. "Point is, stop putting off the good things. Also, sorry about this."

"About what-"

Rocket sliced a claw across the back of Loki's hand.

Loki lashed out instinctively, backhanding Rocket in the chest. His breath whooshed out in an audible gasp and he went flying, but Groot was ready, and the raccoon landed safely in the tree's arms. As Groot set him down, and Loki had to look down at him, he abruptly realized he was sitting up.

"Oh, thank the gods," he sighed, his shoulders slumping in relief. Thor pulled him in roughly, smushing Loki's head against his chest. Loki flailed, knocked off-balance, slapping at Thor's arm. "Hey, ow, I'm not healed, you idiot!"

Thor let go, letting Loki swing back upright. "Sorry."

"No you're not," Loki muttered, rubbing his aching neck.

"Admit it, you missed my post-battle tackle-hugs," Thor teased.

"I admit nothing."

Thor helped him up, and the mere act of _standing_ had never before made him close his eyes and savor the sensation, but for a moment, that's exactly what he did. Until a groan snapped him out of it.

He turned to see Rocket rubbing his chest. "Damn, you hit hard."

Loki held up his hand, healing the cut with his first careless thought in a day. "You scratched me."

"But you hit _hard,_ dude."

"Sorry," Loki said with a shrug. "Asgardian."

"Didn't Thor say something about you being Jotun?"

"Yes, I'm a Frost Giant," Loki said, examining the dagger.

"I am Groot?"

"You don't just ask a giant why he's smaller than a dwarf, Groot!" Rocket scolded, exasperated. "Although, that- that is a good question."

Loki sighed. "My biological father was the Jotun king. When Thor's biological father led the Asgardian invasion to protect the universe from the Jotuns, he found me, a runt abandoned to die, and raised me as his own. Sort of. I was always closer to my mother."

"…Your Jotun mother?"

"She left me to die! Why would I be close to her?"

Thor plucked the dagger from Loki's hands, and he immediately sensed… its unhappiness. Curious, he took it back, and… she started buzzing happily in his hand. Thor took her, and she stilled again. "Paws off, you're upsetting her," Loki snapped, taking her back again.

Thor blinked. "I'm… upsetting… her?"

"The dagger does have a sentience of sorts," Eitri confirmed. "Your mother's doing."

"My…" Loki turned, looking up at the dwarf. "You said this was forged specifically for me."

Eitri nodded. "She made the request of me a few weeks before your brother's coronation. Your birthday was the same day, and she knew everyone would be too excited and drunk to remember, so she wanted to give you something special."

_Loki sat out on the golden balcony as midnight came and went, his gaze lifted to the stars. He traced the constellations, recalling their names and stories as he went. Doing anything to ignore the resentment burning deep within him._

_Someone pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head, and he smiled. "Happy birthday, my darling."_

_"I thought you went to bed," Loki said, leaning his head against her arm._

_Mother wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I couldn't go to sleep without my wishing my boy a happy birthday, now could I?"_

_"Thor certainly did," Loki muttered._

_She pulled back, sitting down beside him. "Your brother is entitled to his excitement," she reminded him firmly. "This is a day that changes the kingdom."_

_"I know," Loki mumbled, dropping his gaze. "But…"_

_She softened, taking his hand. "I know, sweetheart. You'll have your birthday. I promise."_

"So this is what she meant," Loki whispered, tracing one snake with his thumb. Words shimmered to life beneath the touch, golden and in achingly familiar handwriting: _Happy birthday, my darling Loki._

He switched snakes, his finger trembling as he held himself back from rushing through the unveiling. Each one conveyed a different heartfelt message, appearing as the one on the previous snake faded, and each one he read in her familiar, soothing voice. The last one simply read _Love, Mother._

"She brought it back to me… after," Eitri continued. "She said I could melt it down and create something else, because she had other things to remember you by. But I kept it anyway. I'm not entirely sure why, seeing as she's nearly useless in the hands of anyone else, but…"

"Thank you," Loki said sincerely, looking up at him. "You saved my life."

Eitri smiled a little. "Not really. You would've been a quadriplegic, still fully capable of leading a full life."

"Not much use in today's fight against Thanos, though," Loki pointed out. "Which, as much as I love her, I'm _tired_ of people expecting me to fight armies and evil beings with a _dagger_."

"Oh, she's a shapeshifter," Eitri said. "At your thought, she can turn into just about any conventional weapon, including a blaster and a shield."

Loki looked down at her, and almost immediately, Thor lurched backwards as her blade shot out, lengthening and widening into a longsword. Loki grinned, running a finger along her lethally sharp edges. "Now, _that's_ more like it."

"So long as she's within about a hundred yards of you, she'll continue to be connected to you," Eitri explained. "Magic amplification – one drop of blood equals about two days' worth of constant magic use – obeying your commands, even returning to you like Mjolnir once returned to Thor. The only thing left is to strengthen your bond through use and a name."

"A name," Loki echoed. "Mother didn't-?"

Eitri shook his head. "Queen Frigga said she was your weapon, and that should be your right."

Loki rubbed a snake's head, thinking. Naming a weapon after his mother – that didn't feel right. But… there was one name. "What about Carita? Do you like that?"

Carita hummed happily. Loki smiled. "Carita it is."

"Well, that don't sound Asgardian," Rocket commented.

"No," Thor agreed, eyes narrowed, "it doesn't."

"I'll tell you the story later," Loki promised.

"Good!" a new voice called. "Because now is the time to go kick an ugly grape's ass, right?"

Loki whipped around, eyes lighting up as he spotted the pair of newcomers stepping out of a pod of their own. "Valkyrie! Sif!"

Valkyrie grinned. "What, you didn't think I'd come back? You told me to meet you here."

Thor swept the two women into a crushing bearhug. "I didn't know how long it would take for you to find a planet to leave the civilians on. And- Sif, where have you been?"

Sif returned Thor's hug happily, but at the question, she shot a glare at Loki. "That one banished me when I figured out he was masquerading as the Allfather."

"Sorry," Loki mumbled.

"We'll talk later," she said, drawing her sword. "For now – where's the battle?"

"Earth." Thor reached out, summoning Stormbreaker to his hand. He looked at the handle, seeming to notice it for the first time. "Thank you, Groot."

"I am Groot," he said dismissively.

"We flying there?" Rocket asked.

Eitri backed off, separating himself from the group. "Not exactly."

"On my shoulders, Rabbit," Thor commanded, summoning a gust of wind to make his cape billow majestically. Finally setting his game down – after asking Eitri to keep it safe – Groot stepped up to stand to Thor's left and slightly behind. Sif took her place in front of the tree.

Loki rolled his eyes at Thor's drama and stepped up on his right, bringing Carita to bear. "You ready for this, Carita?"

She buzzed determinedly, settling herself in his grip.

"Nice sword," Valkyrie complimented, drawing her Dragonfang as she moved to Loki's right. Carita twitched in awe at the legendary weapon.

"Thanks," Loki replied. "She's also a dagger. And a spear. And a scepter. And a blaster. And a shield. And a-"

"So she's as much of a shapeshifting drama queen as you are, Lackey?"

Carita bobbed up and down in an enthusiastic nod as Loki chuckled. "Yes," Loki said. "Yes she is."

"Are we ready?" Thor asked.

Loki closed his eyes, letting his magic ripple over him. His torn and dirtied clothes patched together, returning to his normal immaculate state, as his helmet settled over his head. When he reopened his eyes, he felt more like himself than he had in years.

"Ready."

Thor lofted Stormbreaker into the air, and the Bifrost crashed down to carry them to battle, Eitri's call of "Good luck" echoing after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next... Wakanda. There will be at least 2 more chapters, one of which is already complete (I am so not used to have chapters pre-written like this, it's so nice), but I haven't yet decided how far beyond IW's end I'll go because, while I do want to continue, I need a good, cohesive plot idea and I haven't found one yet.  
>   
> Anyways, Loki and Carita is my new brOTP. I am so sad that I never thought her up earlier, and she is so showing up in future post-IW fics. (I'm now tortured by a vision of Loki sitting on the floor, reading a book, but she's bugging for him attention like a pouty puppy and he just smiles at her like "F i n e" and it's really making me wish I could draw.)  
>   
> Also, the story behind her name is detailed in chapter 9 of my Lokyrie fic New Beginnings over on FF, so you can read that if you're interested.  
>   
> (Don't worry, if that's not your thing, this fic will continue to be ship neutral, because we all need this no matter who we ship Loki with. And the story behind her name is basically that Carita was a human Loki secretly fell in love with back in the 1960s who died a few years into their courtship, and only Frigga knew about her.)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND WE'RE FINALLY IN WAKANDA. I had a blast writing this chapter, not gonna lie. It only took a few hours, that's how into it I was. Keeping it tucked away for days has been absolute torture.

They traded space's darkness for Earth's glaring midday sun, flat metal flooring for trampled grass and dirt, and the forge's peace for the roar of battle, aliens screaming, humans calling out for aid, the _squelch_ of metal sinking into flesh, the _smack_ of flesh hitting flesh, the _thud_ of bodies hitting the ground.

As the rainbow began to fade, Thor kicked up the lightning production to shield them, flinging Stormbreaker into the alien army. Loki clutched Carita tightly, shoving down memories of Thanos's attack.

_He's not here. This is just an alien army, you've fought plenty of those._

_He's not here_ yet _._

A large swathe cut for them to land safely, Stormbreaker flew back to Thor's waiting hand. Rocket leapt off the king's shoulders, hefting his machine gun. Loki eyed the humans now watching them, their expressions a range of awe and joy and confusion, half nervous that they would reject his help even now.

But the only one to speak was Bruce, his head popping out of a massive Iron Man armor: "You guys are so screwed now!"

"For Asgard," Thor murmured.

"For Asgard," Loki, Valkyrie, and Sif echoed.

Thor nodded sharply, breaking into a run, lightning crackling around him as his cape billowed behind him. "Bring me Thanos!" he roared, launching into the air, storm clouds darkening above him.

Sif took off after him, followed by Rocket and Groot. Loki exchanged a glance with Valkyrie, and together, they plunged into the fray, back-to-back and hacking away.

"So, what'd I miss?" Valkyrie asked. "Your neck looks like a mess."

"Thanos killed everyone. Including Heimdall," Loki answered, punctuating each word with a kill. "And forced me to trade both the Tesseract and my life for Thor's life."

"I knew you were a softie."

"I am _literally_ murdering Outriders right now."

"So am I," Valkyrie said, beheading one in a splatter of blood. "You're not special, Lackey."

_Shield._

Carita transformed into a round disc in an instant, the snakes twining together over the front of her black surface. Loki hurled her into the crowd, where she ricocheted from Outrider chest to Outrider chest, knocking down a dozen before returning to Loki's hand.

"Huh," Valkyrie murmured, eyeing Carita appreciatively. "Can I have one?"

"No. I'm special."

A resounding _thud_ echoed behind him, making Loki whirl around. "Copying my moves, I see," Rogers commented, smashing his foot into a downed Outrider's face.

Loki shrugged. "And you're copying my brother's beard."

He tipped his head in tired acknowledgement. "I thought you died."

"Never seems to stick," Loki said, ordering Carita into dagger form and hurling her over the captain's shoulder. She sank right into its eye, killing the beast in an instant. She wriggled free, returning to Loki with a shudder of disgust, flicking some blood and brain matter right into Rogers's face.

The old human just blinked. "The shapeshifting knife is alive. Why am I surprised anymore."

Loki smirked and spun away, smashing Carita's hilt into an Outrider's face as she lengthened back into a sword. He slashed his way through Thanos's army, his moves rusty at first after four years of lazing on the throne. But as they came back to him, the pain in his neck sharpened and grew, joined by new bruises and scratches as Outrider after Outrider sprang at him in mindless furor.

_I miss the Chitauri,_ he thought, leaning away from a claw to the face. Then a second Outrider came charging in, slamming into his legs as he was off-balance. He hit the ground with a yelp, his temple cracking against a rock. Stars burst across his vision, leaving him dazed and limp.

The two aliens immediately dove on him with shrieks of triumph. Carita transformed into a shield on her own, darting between him and the Outrider going for his face. The second pounced on his exposed legs. He screamed as its claws sank deep into his thigh, blood spurting from the deep slashes.

A black-clad person tackled it, slashing at the alien with their own claws, before turning to dispatch the Outrider Carita still battled. Loki clamped a hand over his leg, pumping healing magic into the wounds.

The person turned to him, his mask disappearing as he sheathed his claws. "Are you all right?" he asked in a thick accent.

Loki pushed himself upright gingerly, wincing as every little ache and pain made itself known. Carita stayed in shield form, pressing up against his back to support him. He could feel how the burst of magic had drained her, and her pulse of fear for him.

"I can fight," he answered, taking the man's proffered hand. Carita returned to her dagger form, settling in his hand, and he absently ran a soothing thumb over her hilt.

Concern glittered in the man's eyes, but he took Loki at his word. "I am King T'Challa of Wakanda," he introduced himself.

"Prince Loki of Asgard," Loki said, scanning the field for more surprise attacks. Thor was attacking the ships in massive storms of lightning, Rocket and Groot had joined forces with Rogers and a man with a metal arm, and Valkyrie and Sif were fighting alongside a small group of women in red armor. "Any particular reason you're dressed as a cat?"

T'Challa chuckled. "An ancestral tradition."

"Ah."

"You know, you're not what I expected," T'Challa commented.

Loki twirled Carita in his fingers. _Spear._ "What did you expect, a homicidal maniac working for Thanos?"

"Something like that."

Loki jabbed Carita behind him, impaling a trio of Outriders like a snarling kebab. "Check back tomorrow."

T'Challa tilted his head, as if wondering whether to take Loki at his word again. Loki just gestured behind the king. "Incoming."

T'Challa whipped around, donning his mask and unsheathing his claws. _Sword,_ Loki ordered, preparing to join the king, when the sound of massive whirring blades drew his attention to the left. His jaw dropped, Carita nearly slipping from his fingers.

_Right. I forgot about those._

Loki conjured a thigh holster and sheathed Carita before taking off. Emerald light erupted around his hands, carrying him into the sky. A winged man and another in a silver Iron Man suit were teaming up to take out one set of the circular weapons tearing across the battlefield, shredding humans and Outriders alike.

Loki shifted his gaze to another set, noticing a blonde woman and another of the women in red fighting in its path. He crashed down between it and them, clapping his hands together, arms straight out. A wall of green burst forth from the clap, rolling forward to split the machine in half. He flipped his hands over, back-to-back, and, gritting his teeth, started shoving the two halves aside.

Carita bounced urgently in her sheath. _I know, Carita, I_ know _I don't have the power to spare for this, but they need to be destroyed._

"Loki," the blonde murmured warily, and he was surprised to recognize Romanoff's voice, "those aren't moving apart very quickly."

"I noticed," he snapped.

He shifted strategies, lowering his hands to the ground, palms up, and pushed upwards. Their inner ends started to tilt upwards, but the outer blades still dug into the ground, churning their way rapidly towards the trio. He kept pushing, up and out, but they were _heavy,_ they weren't moving fast enough-

Scarlet power shot out from behind him, twining with his emerald to lift the blades just in time for them to sail harmlessly overhead. Loki spun around, and still with the aid of the young woman, he sent them crashing down on groups of Outriders.

The woman in red armor pointed at the newcomer with her spear. "Why were you up there all this time?"

She smiled, looking at Loki. "I'm stronger than the God of Mischief. Clint would've loved to have seen that."

" _Today_ ," Loki emphasized. "You're stronger than me _today._ Try again when I'm at full strength."

"Really? Because I saw you copying my flight technique."

Loki crossed his arms. "I am nearly a thousand years older than any of you could hope to be – if anybody is copying moves, it's you."

She brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. "Whatever you say."

"This is a plot twist," Romanoff observed, a little bit of pride sparkling in her eyes as she glanced at the younger woman. "You're with us now, Loki?"

Loki tilted his head, the corner of his mouth lifting in a weary attempt at a smile. "I have red in my ledger, and I'd like to wipe it out."

Romanoff nodded, her own lips flickering at the callback, and dipped her head to the other two women. "That's Wanda, that's Okoye." She pointed across the field. "And those are Sam, Rhodey, and Bucky."

Loki pointed at his own allies. "Valkyrie, Rocket, Groot, Sif."

"Great. Let's get back to-"

She stopped abruptly, her and Wanda lifting fingers to their ears. _"We have a Vision situation!"_ Loki heard someone call over their communications devices before they went down with a startled grunt.

Wanda whirled around, scarlet flaring around her hands. "I'm on my-"

Something glinted in the corner of Loki's eye, something sharp hurtling straight towards them- towards Wanda. "Duck!" he yelled, lunging for the witch. They collapsed to the ground right as Proxima's spear flew through where she had been standing a heartbeat before.

Loki whipped his head up, glaring at the familiar woman. She sneered at him, blood red eyes dark with disdain. "Lackey."

"Proxy," he snapped, rising to his feet.

"You're annoyingly resilient," she said, summoning her spear back to her hand.

"And you're just entirely annoying," he shot back, drawing Carita. _Sword._

Proxima just kept sneering. "You couldn't defeat me seven years ago, and you couldn't defeat me yesterday. Why should I be scared of you now?"

Romanoff stepped up beside him, drawing her own weapons. "Because he's not alone."

Okoye took her place on his other side, aiming her own spear. "Leave my country, alien."

Proxima snorted. "He attacked your planet, working for my father, just as I am. Why would you risk your lives for him?"

For the first time in a century, Loki let the change ripple over him in a wave of emerald, maintaining his height even as other parts of him narrowed or enlarged accordingly. His voice rose in pitch, taking on a faint husky quality. "Easy," Lady Loki answered. "Girl power."

Despite everything, Romanoff chuckled. "She's right, Proxy. We humans do love our girl power."

With an enraged growl, Proxima lunged. Loki parried the blow while Okoye and Romanoff split off, coming at her former torturer from different angles. Proxima twisted Carita out of Loki's hands, but had to turn immediately to defend her back, parrying Okoye's attack as she dodged Romanoff's.

"Wanda, go get Vision," Loki ordered, snatching up Carita. The scarlet witch nodded, launching into the air. Proxima snarled, watching her, but Loki morphed Carita into a spear and jabbed at the villainess, forcing her to go on the defensive.

The trio continued their assault, stabbing and hacking at Thanos's daughter. But speed and agility were her greatest assets, and she dodged with ease, even as she struggled to land a solid blow. The blunt end of her spear caught Romanoff's knee; a prong left a gash on Loki's arm; a kick knocked Okoye down for a few precious moments.

_Enough of this._

Loki flung herself out of the fray, rolling into a crouch. Carita shrank to the size of a throwing knife, and with a burst of telekinesis to guide her, Loki hurled her at Proxima. She sliced through her Achilles tendon, and Proxima fell to one knee with a shriek. Romanoff kicked her to the ground, and without hesitation, Okoye stabbed her spear straight into Proxima's heart.

Loki stood, calling Carita back to his hand, where she landed as a dagger. Romanoff and Okoye took a step back from the corpse, and the three women exchanged a glance. "You going for a new look?" Romanoff asked, gesturing up and down Loki's body.

"I'm over a thousand years old, Romanoff," he said, letting the glamour fall away. "All of my looks were perfected long ago."

"So you're a fashionista."

Loki chuckled. "Shapeshifter. And keeping one form for five thousand years is boring. Now, it's time to stop Thanos from getting to Vision."

She arched an eyebrow. "You know who Vision is?"

"Thor had time to tell me a few things, seeing as Earth was going to be Asgard's new home."

"What happened to Asgard?" Okoye asked.

"Thor and I had a secret older sister who made New York me look no more dangerous than a pickpocket," Loki explained. "And then Thanos came along. The four of us here – we're the only warriors left."

"Damn," Romanoff murmured. "I'm sorry."

Loki accepted the condolences with a nod, glancing at Okoye, realizing she had the same accent as T'Challa and putting that together with the uniforms he had seen. "We should get back to the fighting before Wakanda ends up the same way."

She nodded. "Agre-"

A chill settled over the battlefield, an icy breeze bringing a wave of darkened clouds that Loki knew didn't come from Thor. Carita shivered in his hand as Loki looked around, edging closer to the two women. The Outriders ignored it, giving most of the Wakandans something to keep fighting, but the heroes were going still, searching for the source of the sinister aura.

"Oh no," Romanoff whispered. "Don't tell me that he's…"

Loki looked towards the copse Wanda had flown towards, as certain of his arrival as he was of the memories haunting his mind. He swallowed, squeezing Carita tightly in his trembling hand.

"He's here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I have good news and bad news.
> 
> Good news: I figured out the sequel. I will be writing my own version of Avengers 4. For the sole purpose of ensuring Thor and Loki get their happy endings. (But it will be treated more like an Avengers movie, not solely a Thor and Loki one, so as my idea stands now, Thor and Loki will be the focus, but not the only POV characters. That could change, idk, I have yet to sit down and take my scattered scene ideas and turn them into an actual cohesive plan.)
> 
> Bad news: In order to pull it off, I have to sacrifice the happy ending I was planning for this fic. I only made this decision yesterday, and I fought it, I really did, but... it's the best way to deal with both canon and my own unfinished plotlines. So... enjoy this one while it lasts (and it's looking like there'll be 2 more chapters, making 9 total).
> 
> Additional bad news: I have something else to write before I start the sequel, something with an actual deadline, and at this point, I don't know how long it'll take. And, like I said, I still have to write up the outline for the sequel. So... idk how long you guys'll be left with the cliffhanger. Could be days, could be weeks, could be more. I'll be as quick as I can, cause I hate evil cliffhangers too (although as a writer I love them, and this is my first time ending an entire fic on a cliffhanger, so this'll be a new evil for me), but I also don't wanna rush, you know? Quality over speed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this was only supposed to be half a chapter, but I liked the ending so much I didn't want to immediately move on. So enjoy this for a few days before I crush you!

_"Everyone, converge on my position,"_ Rogers ordered over the comms. Romanoff and Okoye took off immediately, racing straight towards the galaxy's deadliest threat, armed with nothing but their will and feeble human weaponry. Loki's own courage failed him, and all he could do was stand there and clutch Carita.

_You think you know pain? He will make you_ long _for something_ sweet _as pain._

The Other's words slithered through his mind, as crystal clear as they had been the day they were uttered. A constant reminder that he hadn't escaped, not really. From the moment he crashed outside of Thanos's stronghold, his life had belonged to the Titan. That debt had already come due once, ending far more mercifully than Loki had dared hope to imagine.

But a second time?

"Come on, Odinson!" Romanoff yelled over her shoulder. Carita pressed into his palm and wriggled, a little gesture of reassurance.

_Do it. You helped create this mess, so help clean it up._

"What the hell," he muttered. "I've sacrificed myself once today – what's one more time?"

He broke into a run, catching up to them. Across the field, he spotted Rocket and Groot bounding towards the trees, Valkyrie and Sif not far off. Sam and Rhodey were soaring in from above. Only Thor held back, still dealing with the ships to give the Wakandans a fighting chance.

Romanoff glanced back at him, staying a step behind the humans even though he could've flown past in a heartbeat. "Go to Wanda. You're the last line of defense."

Loki nodded, squelching his relief as he split off to look for her. This didn't save him – it only stalled the inevitable. These humans, for all their stubborn will… it was a futile battle.

He found her kneeling beside an injured humanoid, tears in her eyes as she cupped his face. "I won't do it," she was insisting, a quaver in her voice.

_The Tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference?_

Vision held her wrists tenderly, looking at her with nothing but love and admiration. "We are out of time."

She shook her head desperately. "Vis…"

_So that's Vision. Thor didn't mention he had a lover._

_Has… has Thor even been back to Earth?_

_Of course he hasn't._

Vision placed Wanda's hand over the Infinity Stone in his forehead, covering it with his own. "You could never hurt me," he promised earnestly.

Wanda looked up, finally noticing Loki. "There has to be another way," she pleaded. _Pleaded_. Pleaded with _him,_ of all people, for salvation.

_Oh, I do. Kill away._

"There isn't," he whispered.

She sobbed. Scarlet power built in her palm, but she didn't fire. "I- I can't-"

Loki looked back at the others. Thanos was tearing through them with ease, sealing Bruce in a rock wall, throwing T'Challa aside, shattering Groot's roots. They had mere moments left, moments left in which to save half the universe.

_All right, stop!_

Loki turned back, grabbing her shoulder. "You _have_ to, Wanda. I failed to make the choice you're making – I traded the Space Stone for my brother's life. And because of that, I could watch half of my people die, and I could still watch Thor die. If you don't do this, you could still lose Vision, and Romanoff, and Clint.

"Be strong, Wanda. Be stronger than the God of Mischief."

Wanda stared between him and Vision, denial wavering beneath the tears. "Wanda," Vision murmured, "I love you."

Finally, her lip wobbling, she nodded. Rising to her feet, she took a deep breath and aimed with both hands. "I'm sorry," she rasped.

Scarlet power erupted from her palms, consuming the yellow Stone. Vision shuddered but stayed strong, holding eye contact with his lover even as she murdered him. "I feel only you," he breathed.

Loki turned away, giving them what privacy he could manage, planting his feet as Okoye was sent flying, Romanoff buried beneath a mound of dirt and rocks. His magic wasn't going to cut it this time, not with his bare hands. _Blaster,_ he ordered reluctantly, adjusting his grip as Carita transformed. He channeled his magic into her barrel, finger hovering near the trigger.

And he waited.

Waited for his torturer.

Rogers managed to hold out. Grabbed Thanos's Gauntleted fist, dug his heels in and _fought._ Thanos tolerated the effort for a moment, eyeing the human with curiosity and disdain. Until, finally, even as Rogers screamed from the effort, he smacked the human aside like he was no more than a fly.

Loki tightened his grip on Carita, but in that moment, her reassuring buzz did nothing to soothe the nerves exploding within him.

Thanos strode casually forward, the Gauntlet glowing as he prepared to throw aside Vision's last defender. Until he saw who it was and paused, his fist lowering. "Lackey?"

"Surprise," Loki sneered with a confidence he didn't have, lifting Carita to aim at the Titan. "You failed."

"Did I?" Thanos asked.

Loki opened his mouth to retort, then registered what Thanos had said. "What?"

"Oh, my child," he sighed. He looked down at Loki with honest disappointment. "You have much to learn."

"I'm not your child," Loki snapped. "My parents are Frigga and Odin, and my brother is Thor, not Ebony Maw or Black Dwarf or any of the goons you sent to torture me."

"Loyalty," Thanos observed. "I like that in my children." He held his bare hand out. "Come home."

Loki jerked his head towards where lightning still flashed and thunder roared, at the two Asgardians and the tree and the raccoon lying on the ground. "I _am_ home. And only two people are allowed to call me Lackey."

He pulled the trigger, shooting emerald magic straight towards the Titan. Thanos held up the Gauntlet at the last second, blocking Loki with a violet shield. Loki pressed down harder on the trigger, digging his heels in and trying not to listen to Wanda sobbing behind him.

Thanos pushed forward. "You're _home_?" he challenged. "Do you really think that these heroes will accept you? Even your so-called brother, who never tried to look for you in the year you lived with me?"

Loki gritted his teeth, the force of the Power Stone pushing him backwards as Thanos advanced. But his gaze flickered, jumping to the humans who had once tried to kill him, the humans he now had to seek refuge from.

_Will they?_ his mind whispered. _Or will you just end up in a different jail for the rest of eternity?_

"You'll never be one of them," Thanos continued. "A _hero._ You fit in too well with my other children."

"So you admit you're not a hero?" Loki shot back.

Thanos growled. He _shoved_ against Loki's magic, moving forward a full step so abruptly Loki almost fell backwards. He regained his balance at the last second, staggering as he lost ground. Heat pulsed across his back, Wanda now visible out of the corner of his eye, still trying to destroy the Mind Stone.

"You'll lose," Thanos insisted. "You always do."

The heat on Loki's back lessened. A jet of scarlet shot over his shoulder, impacting Thanos's violet shield and intertwining with Loki's emerald. The three colors sparked and clashed, rippling as the red and green duo fought the purple for dominance.

Loki glanced over his shoulder, making eye contact with Wanda. Tears streamed down her face, but determination glinted in her glowing eyes as she gave him a sharp nod. "Be strong."

_Enjoy your keepsake, you so-called gods._

_I am Groot._

_Good luck._

_I knew you were a softie._

_You know, if you were here, I might even give you a hug._

_Welcome home._

Loki turned back to Thanos, ignoring the heroes scattered across the ground. "No."

It was Thanos's turn to be confused. "What?"

"No," Loki repeated, leaning into the attack with renewed vigor. "I'm not a hero. And most of them will never accept me, not really. But I'm not a villain anymore, either. And considering Jotunheim and Asgard are both in shambles, I'm hardly even a prince or a king."

"Then who are you?" Thanos demanded.

"Honestly? I have absolutely no idea. But _what_ I am, _that_ I know."

"And what is that?"

"I'm tired of being your victim."

Loki stopped firing long enough to shove Carita as a dagger back into her holster. Gathering their shared magic into his palms, he thrust every ounce of it into Thanos's shield, leaving Wanda free to refocus all of her strength on Vision.

The Titan staggered backwards, and Loki strode forward, lifting one hand so his magic was pushing down, forcing the Titan to his knees so Loki could look him in the eye.

"And I lied. I am Loki, brother of Thor, son of Odin and Frigga," he hissed, "and I _win_."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL RIGHTY. You guys weren't supposed to get this until tomorrow, but then I terrified myself by accidentally deleting nearly all of my Marvel fanfics so I had to send my laptop off to get those recovered (which mostly worked), so now I'm in paranoia mode and I'm just dumping this on the internet now.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading the ending of the last chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! So now I'm just gonna... apologize... for killing the mood... with this chapter... whoops...

Thor sprinted across the battlefield and launched into the air, powered by a jet of lightning. Stormbreaker sank deep into the side of one ship. Thor let gravity pull them down, lightning and debris exploding from the jagged path Stormbreaker carved. Nearer the ground, he jumped off, hitting the ground and tucking immediately into a roll.

The ship exploded, dying with the screams of a thousand Outriders.

"I've seen better."

Thor took M'Baku's proffered hand and hauled himself up. "Who?"

M'Baku thumped his own chest, grinning. "Me."

Thor laughed deeply, clapping the leader on the shoulder. "I might just take you up on that boast."

"I-"

Another explosion tore through the air. Thor whipped around to see the copse where the others had gone to fight Thanos enveloped in a blast of yellow energy. Flickering around the yellow were broken waves of emerald.

_Loki._

"Go," M'Baku said. "We have this covered."

Thor took off, leaping across the battlefield in a surge of lightning, electrocuting Outriders as he went. As he neared the copse, certain details became clear: A scorched patch of ground, Wanda sobbing beside it on all fours, Loki lying limp a few feet from her, his helmet dented and dirtied on the ground beside him, the others in no better shape in a trail of limp and feebly moving bodies that ended in Thanos still standing above them all.

"NO!" Thor roared.

He crossed the remaining distance in a single bound, driving a wildly sparking Stormbreaker down towards Thanos's chest.

With a simple flick of his wrist, Thanos flung him aside. He crashed to the ground, Stormbreaker flying out of his grip to land uselessly yards away. A net of shimmering blue pressed down over his body, trapping him with the same force that had thwarted Loki's attempt back on the ship.

"Asgardians," he muttered. "You're certainly an irritating bunch."

"I learned from the best," Thor retorted, glancing at Loki. He had rolled onto his stomach and was straining for Carita with trembling fingers, but at the comment he looked up, trying to purse his lips but betrayed by the upward twitch of the corner of his mouth. Thor couldn't help but smile back, huffing a faint laugh at his brother's amusement.

Until Thanos's attention shifted to his little brother. As casually as if he were taking a step, the Titan crushed both Carita and Loki's hand beneath one foot. Loki let out a strained whimper, freezing in place, humor exterminated from his face. Beyond them, Sif and Valkyrie exchanged a glance, but their attempts to reach their weapons were as feeble as Loki's had been. Thor renewed his struggles, to no avail.

"Are you still winning, _Lackey_?" Thanos asked, venom dripping from the name.

Loki said nothing, his terrified gaze rooted to the ground.

"Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back?" Thor snarled.

Thanos tightened his fist, and immediately the pressure pinning Thor down increased. He gasped, his chest crushed by the weight of a dozen bilgesnipe. Loki tried to catch his eye, but Thor squeezed them shut. If he was going to die, Loki wasn't going to _see_ his soul leave.

"Stop," Loki rasped. Then, louder, "Stop!"

The pressure vanished. Thor sucked in a breath, opening his eyes to black spots covering the trees. "Brother, don't-"

"Don't hurt him," Loki pleaded. "Don't- don't hurt anyone else."

"Oh? And what will I receive for this favor?"

Loki looked at Thor, just like he had back on the ship. Except, this time, there was no promise in his gaze. No hint of bravery. Of pretending everything would be all right. Because the Wakandans were still being overrun. The heroes were strewn across the ground, struggling to move, let alone fight. And Thanos still had five Stones.

No, there was no light in Loki's gaze. Only resigned terror.

Loki looked up, tilting his head to a nearly impossible angle that must have been killing his neck. "Me," he said. "Take me."

Thanos chuckled darkly. "Bold of you to assume you're worth an Infinity Stone."

"You promised I would long for something sweet as pain if I lost the Tesseract – should the Mind Stone not be worth the same? Especially now that you'll never reach your goal."

Thanos tipped his head, pondering. "Your words make sense, boy."

Thor looked around, looked for _anyone_ who could do _something._ But Valkyrie and Sif were still down, as were Steve and even Bruce, and Tony and Strange were nowhere to be found-

_Wanda._

_Wanda was moving, right?_

She was crumpled on the ground, tears still streaming down her face, but she wasn't sobbing anymore. Her expression was simply blank, her eyes unfocused, seeing nothing. Some part of Thor wondered if he had looked like that, huddled over Loki's body, waiting for the ship to explode around them.

He ignored that part of him. "Wanda," he whispered. "Wanda!"

She blinked, once, slowly. "Vis," she breathed hoarsely.

Thor winced at the sheer agony in her voice. "Wanda, please. You can still fight."

She dragged her gaze to him, her eyes utterly lifeless. "What is left to fight for?"

Thor hated invoking the word, but he had to reach a part of her that still knew how to fight. "He's my _brother_."

She blinked again, faster, shifting her gaze to Loki. He was still staring up at Thanos, his uncrushed hand digging into the dirt, his skin pale and bloodless from the effort of it. "Spare my brother."

Determination flashed across Wanda's face, faint but there, and she stumbled to her feet. "Let him go."

Thanos turned his attention to her, ignoring the ball of scarlet energy building between her hands. He stepped towards her, finally releasing Loki. He gasped, snatching his broken hand to his chest. Carita, dirt ground into her hilt, moved in halting jerks to collapse by his head. With Thanos's back turned to them, Valkyrie, Rocket, Groot, and Sif crawled to his side. Thor went limp from sheer relief, even knowing it was likely doomed to be short-lived.

Thanos reached right past her hands to wipe the tears from one cheek. Wanda leaned back, disgust hardening her expression. "Your sacrifice was brave, child."

"You don't know what sacrifice is," she hissed.

"Oh, I do," Thanos murmured. "I do."

Thor squinted, confused, but if Wanda felt the same, she ignored it. "You're too late."

"Late," Thanos echoed. He nudged her aside, looking down at the scorched ground. He aimed the Gauntlet at it, the green Stone glowing brighter. "Late is a concept that does not exist when one has mastered time itself."

Wanda, Thor, and Loki understood at the same moment. She started to lash out, but Thanos grabbed her head with his free hand and threw her aside, where she crumpled, unmoving. Loki bolted upright, magic shooting from his uninjured hand. The net around Thor contracted, picking him up and hurling him at his bother. Valkyrie dove over Loki, flattening him to the ground at the last second, leaving Thor to crash into the nearest tree.

Thanos twisted his Gauntleted fist counterclockwise, a green spell circling his wrist. The scorched ground rippled and contracted inwards. A form built up from the ground, taking on a horrifyingly familiar form – Vision, kneeling on the ground and wide open to attack, utterly unaware of what was coming. Until it was too late.

Thor managed to lift his arm, calling Stormbreaker to him. Thanos picked Vision up by the throat. Stormbreaker landed in Thor's hand. Thanos started gouging the Mind Stone out of Vision's head. Lightning flared around Thor, lending him strength.

Vision went limp as, with a horrid _crunch,_ Thanos freed the Stone.

Thor motioned as if to throw Stormbreaker, but he kept hold of the handle, flying through the air after his axe.

He sank it deep into Thanos's chest.

A mere heartbeat after he fit the final Stone into the Gauntlet.

They fell onto Thanos's back, and Thor kept pushing, shoving Stormbreaker straight into the heart he was half-convinced Thanos didn't actually have. "I told you," Thor snarled, "you'll _pay_ for that."

Thanos swallowed, struggling to speak. Thor watched him struggle, making no move to remove his axe. He should be feeling something – triumph, disgust, hell, even emptiness would make sense – but… only unease twisted in his gut.

"You…" Thanos managed. "You… should've… gone… for the head."

Thor's eyes widened, but it was too late. Thanos swatted him aside, the Space Stone's power pushing the axe out of his chest. A black portal opened in the ground, and Thanos fell into it. Leaving only the distant sounds of raging battle in his wake.

"What just happened?" Rocket demanded, slowly lowering the arm thrown protectively in front of Groot when the scuffle started.

Thor picked himself up gingerly, glancing from his Asgardian family to his human friends as they all started doing the same. "I… I think…"

"We just lost," a new voice said.

Thor turned around, seeing another portal, this one a circle of orange sparks. It was Tony who had spoken, his voice hollow, his body armorless, his face cut up and dark blood staining his stomach, leaning on a young boy for support. Behind him came Quill, leaning on Mantis, then Drax, a blue cyborg, and finally Strange.

"Tones!" Rhodey exclaimed, relief flooding as his voice as he abandoned his armor to wrap Tony in a hug, a hug Tony leaned into with the same immense relief. Thor just stared at the braces Rhodey now wore.

_What… what happened down here?_

" _Nebula_?" Loki exclaimed. Beneath the shock was a layer of fear that drove Thor to his side, kneeling beside him and resting a hand on his shoulder. Loki leaned into him, trembling as he slipped Carita into her holster, answering Thor's question about his wellbeing only with a weary nod.

Rocket started running towards his team, but he wavered after a couple steps as the portal closed. "Where… where's Gamora?"

The newcomers all glanced at Quill. They looked away almost immediately, but the damage was done. "I couldn't kill her," he rasped, bowing his head beneath the weight of the guilt in his voice. "I couldn't kill her."

" _Kill_ her?" Rocket asked, gaze darting from face to face, searching for answers. "What-"

"She traded the Soul Stone for me," Nebula answered, her eyes downcast. "And Thanos traded her for the Stone."

"I am Groot," the tree protested, voice wobbling. Rocket leaned against him, patting the teenager, but the gesture was as feeble as his expression was defeated.

"Was he here?" Strange asked quietly. Resignedly. Already knowing the answer.

"We lost, too," Steve said, appearing to glean some strength from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Sam and a metal-armed man. _Bucky?_ Thor wondered. _But I thought he was on the run…_

Steve's gaze was stuck on Tony, and Tony was staring back, his grip tight on the boy's shoulders.

Okoye tilted her head, listening to something. "Ayo reports that the aliens are leaving. We have sustained heavy casualties, my king."

T'Challa nodded heavily. "We shall tend to them soon."

"There's gotta be something we can do," the boy protested. "We can't- we're _heroes_ \- we can't just _lose_ -"

Tony just shook his head, resting his chin on the boy's head. "Not right now, Peter."

"Thanos said it himself," Loki murmured. "That we would know what it's like to lose."

Tony lifted his head, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to notice Loki for the first time. "Whose _we,_ Rock of Ages?"

"He fought on our side, Stark," Steve said.

_Stark? When did we go back to last names?_

"Our side," Tony deadpanned. "That's _rich_ coming from you, Rogers."

"Stop!" Sif snapped, rising to her feet. "Whatever this is, we-"

She stopped, looking down at her hands. "What the…?"

She dissolved into a cloud of ash before she could finish the question.

Thor, Loki, and Valkyrie staggered upright, Valkyrie reaching into the space where Sif had been only a moment before. She looked to Thor and Loki, horror in her eyes. "No," she breathed.

"Steve?"

Thor turned around to see Bucky reaching for Steve. Steve reached back, grabbing for him, but he dissolved too, his gun falling to the ground in his absence. Steve whipped around as, on his other side, Sam disappeared.

Crouching over Vision's colorless body, Wanda floated away, acceptance on her upraised face.

"Something's happening," Mantis announced needlessly, scared, leaving a stunned Quill with no one to lean on.

"Quill?" Drax asked, a last-ditch effort to get answers before the breeze carried him off.

"Oh man," Quill said, half resigned, as he dissolved.

Strange just looked from person to person, his voice calm even as whatever was happening started taking him, too. "It was the only way," he said in his last moment.

If it was meant to be reassuring, it wasn't.

"Sir, Wakandans are disap- T'Challa!" Okoye cried out as her king disappeared from her side.

And then, perhaps most horrifying of all, came Peter's young, terrified voice. "Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."

Thor clutched Loki to his side as he watched Peter fall into Tony's arms, stammering, "I- I don't know what's happening- make it stop-"

"You're all right," was all Tony could say, hugging the kid as if their lives depended on it. Which… they did.

Loki clutched Thor in return, his uninjured hand clamped around Thor's arm.

"I don't wanna go," Peter whimpered, the pair dropping to the ground as his legs dissolved, Tony doing everything he could to hold Peter together. "Please, I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go-"

Tony just cradled his head, at a complete loss for words.

In his last seconds, Peter steadied himself, looking up at Tony. "I'm sorry, Tony. I'm sorry."

And then… he was gone. Leaving Tony alone on the ground, the boy's ashes glued to his hand by Tony's own blood.

"I am Groot…"

_Dad._

Thor spun around in time to see Rocket, who had moved towards the other Guardians as they dissolved, hurry back towards a fading Groot, reaching for the teen. "No, no no no-"

Loki released Thor to lift Carita, aiming her at Groot. Magic reached for the fading kid, but it stuttered to a halt barely halfway there, falling into wisps that faded away. Loki's eyes widened. "Oh no," he whispered.

"No," Thor protested instantly, gripping Loki's shoulders. "No, no, you're _fine_ -"

Loki just looked at him, and he hadn't looked so young in centuries. Young and scared, tears brimming in his eyes, his lip wobbling. "I don't want to go either," he mumbled. "Thor- Thor, I don't-"

Thor swept him into a one-armed hug, using his other to clasp Loki's fist tightly around Carita. "It's ok, little brother," he said, his voice steadied only by love. "You'll go to Valhalla – you'll be with Mother again."

Loki nodded, shaking, clinging to Thor with his free hand. "I'll- I'll tell her you said hi," he promised. "And… I love you, Thor."

Thor shut his eyes against his tears. "I know. I love you, too."

A shudder rippled through Loki. Then, quietly, barely above a breath, he said, "I'm his victim again."

Thor pressed a kiss over his brother's hair, stalling for time, time to find the right words, time to hold Loki- time to- time to do _something_ \- _anything_ -

And then he was kissing nothing, his fists closing around naught but ash.

Silence fell. Smothering the handful of survivors.

Overhead, the heavens broke open. The gods themselves mourning Thanos's victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides in the corner* I DEPRESSED MYSELF TOO I'M SORRY I DIDN'T WANT TO SAVE LOKI ONLY TO DISSOLVE HIM I'M SO SORRY
> 
> THE SEQUEL WILL BE CALLED Hidden Souls! COMING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

**Author's Note:**

> So, I don't exactly know how far I'm gonna take this story. There'll definitely be at least one more chapter, maybe two with as far as I know I'm gonna go, but as for whether it'll end on Nidavellir or Earth or if I'll delve into Avengers 4 speculation territory, and how many chapters this'll end up being overall, idk. We'll just have to see where this goes.


End file.
